Volume 9, Number 3.2 31 March 2014

Editorial Team

Cmde PK Banerjee Cdr Rikeesh Sharma Mr. Panneerselvam Prakash

Address National Maritime Foundation Varuna Complex, NH-8, Airport Road New Delhi-110 010, India Email:

maritimeindia@gmail.com

Acknowledgment: ‘Making Waves’ is compilations of maritime news published in various national and international newspapers, journals, and with minor editorial change, are for research and study only and not for commercial purposes websites. NMF expresses its gratitude to all sources of information. These articles are taken from source directly.

The Fortnightly e-News Brief of the National Maritime Foundation

Inside this Brief

Maritime Editorial…………pg.2 Maritime Security…...........pg.23

Shipping News……………pg.48

Maritime Environment……pg.54

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How China Strengthens Japan’s Navy

MH370 and Maritime Security: Fresh Start for Cooperation? – Analysis

Danger at Sea: It's Not Just Pirates

Can ASEAN Respond to the Chinese Challenge?

Andaman and Nicobar Islands: India’s Strategic Outpost

Hypersonic Missile Boosts Chinese Confidence

Hidden Dragon On The High Seas

Search For Missing Malaysian Jet Reveals Limits of China's Power and Military Might

3 Surprising Sources of Oil Pollution in the Ocean

India-Japan Vietnam Strategic Trilateral- An Asian Security Imperative

Beijing’s South China Sea Strategies: Consolidation and Provocation

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How China Strengthens Japan’s Navy

-- James R. Holmes

Two takeaways linger from the Naval Diplomat’s trip to Yokosuka a couple of weeks back, which included a visit to the destroyer JDS Murasame. First, Japanese mariners grok the value of naval diplomacy. Appearances matter in maritime affairs, and so diplomatic outreach demands showmanship. Indeed, the routine ship tour — a humdrum chore that provokes grousing from junior officers and enlisted crewmen everywhere — turns out to be a handy if not indispensable political implement. This larger purpose was largely lost on me during my time in uniform, when I was saddled with my share of ship tours. Tours were tedium! With no point other than kissing up to muckety-mucks!!! Or so it seemed.

Done right, though, naval outreach impresses visitors. It shapes perceptions among audiences able to influence a nation’s nautical destiny. Think about it. The ability to prevail in combat is the true audit of a navy’s adequacy. In peacetime, however, it’s tough to gauge the efficacy of a man-of-war, or its armament. Crews expend practice rounds in maneuvers, but there’s a canned quality to peacetime exercises. The atmosphere of war — danger, chance and confusion, stark passions like fear and spite — is hard to replicate absent a thinking adversary who returns fire. The best exercises, then, are doubtful indices of military effectiveness.

If naval leaders want to burnish their fleet’s reputation for seamanship and combat prowess, consequently, presenting ships and aircraft well represents their best substitute for battle results. The look of a ship matters. Granted, the best-looking fleet may not be the most capable. It’s possible to spend too much time and effort making a ship a showboat, to the detriment of battle efficiency. All else being equal, however, bet on the contender that deploys clean, tidy, rust-free warships against a fleet of rust buckets. Good upkeep projects an image of competence and pride. In all likelihood, a well-kept vessel is a well-handled vessel. A slovenly vessel? Forget about it.

The JMSDF presents itself well. Murasame appeared immaculate to this mariner’s eye, both inside and out. (Sample size of one ship at one time, I grant you; but that’s true of all such visits.) The captain and officers turned out in dress blues, while the squadron commander joined us for lunch. (“Imperial Japanese curry” was on the menu; let the conspiracy theories commence.) Like any good diplomat, moreover, the ship made good use of happenstance. The spokesman for the ship was a doughty young sea fighter who spent most of his life in … Narragansett, Rhode Island. That’s about twenty miles from the Naval Diplomat’s lair somewhere alongside the Narragansett Bay. A Japanese petty officer with a New England accent — you can’t make such things up.

Second takeaway, China’s navy, coast guard, and fishing fleet — the official and unofficial elements of Chinese sea power — are running the JMSDF ragged in the East China Sea, as Beijing tries to wrench control of the Senkaku Islands from Tokyo and otherwise make the China seas its preserve. Where Chinese vessels go, Japanese ships must follow to preserve effective control of the Senkakus and adjoining waters. China holds the initiative, and it boasts many, many vessels. Small-stick diplomacy remains Beijing’s strategy of the hour.

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The imperative to police southwestern waters translates into a helter-skelter operating tempo for JMSDF ships and aircraft. Murasame officers report spending 25 more days at sea in 2013 than in 2012, and the pace is far from slackening. The ship, then, is spending fully half of each year riding the waves. That amount of at-sea time spells more wear-and-tear on hardware, bigger fuel and maintenance bills, and longer stretches away from families and friends.

But there is an upside. Going to sea is how sailors learn the ins and outs of their profession. More steaming days gives Japanese crewmen more time to hone their skills, and China’s tactics supply the incentive to do so. Lord Nelson cracked wise about Great Britain’s blockade of France during the Napoleonic Wars. Nelson conceded that Royal Navy ships took a beating in heavy weather, but he insisted that near-constant blockade duty refined Jack Tar’s seamanship. Meanwhile, French sailors remained in port, doing…. Well, you can imagine what sailors do when confined to port with little to do. French prowess atrophied, and the navy suffered repeated thrashings at British hands.

China’s strategy in the East China Sea is taking its toll on Japanese resources. But should it come to armed conflict, Beijing may rue forcing JMSDF crews to spend so much time practicing tactics and ship handling. It may be unwittingly honing an adversary’s skills while steeling his resolve.

Source: The Diplomat, 17 March 2014

MH370 and Maritime Security: Fresh Start for Cooperation? – Analysis

-- Sukjoon Yoon

The mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 over the South China Sea remains unexplained, though speculation abounds. Whatever the cause, the incident has precipitated cooperation among countries locked in maritime disputes. Since the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines MH370 on 8 March 2014, several countries have been participating in extensive Search and Rescue (SAR) and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations in the South China Sea and beyond. This provides a welcome contrast to the heated rhetoric of the past few years and may generate enough goodwill for the nations of the region to reconsider how they use their maritime security forces, paving the way for a fresh approach to the resolution of maritime conflicts and confrontations.

The Search for MH370

Prior to the MH370 issue, the regional media was preoccupied with the deployment of Chinese maritime security forces in disputed waters in the South China Sea, which tended to thwart rather than foster regional maritime peace and stability: For example, during the Chinese navy’s largest-ever joint fleet exercise last November, a vessel escorting the refurbished aircraft carrier Liaoning was involved in a near collision with the Aegis cruiser USS Cowpens. Another example was the harassment of the USNS Impeccable by Chinese Maritime Surveillance vessels in international waters last July. Significantly, the missing Malaysian airliner has led to maritime security assets being engaged in SAR and HADR operations in waters with overlapping jurisdictional claims: there are disputes between Vietnam and Malaysia and between China, Vietnam and Malaysia in the areas being searched. Overcoming their reluctance to work together, these rival claimants have managed to set aside their quarrels, with the tragedy apparently facilitating genuine maritime cooperation amongst them.

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The number of countries involved in the Search and Rescue operation has increased from 14 to 25 as of 16 March 2014, including Australia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam. The Chinese contingent comprises four naval vessels (including two large amphibious ships), four maritime patrol craft, six coastguard vessels and 14 rescue ships, with 10 Chinese satellites also joining the search. Arguments over territorial claims in the South China Sea have been put on hold, and instead there is bilateral and multilateral cooperation aimed at rescuing the victims and recovering the wreckage of the aircraft from waters that have been a major bone of contention between China and ASEAN.

Role of Maritime Security Forces

This is an appropriate moment for the Asia-Pacific region to take a fresh look at the role of its maritime security forces. They have undergone significant changes in recent years, with an expansion of inventories and improved capabilities, but their ultimate raison d’être has remained national defence. The growth of non-military threats has, however, significantly broadened the function of maritime security forces. They are no longer concerned only with the protection of resources within their 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zones, but must also undertake law enforcement tasks to counter maritime terrorism, piracy, and armed robbery, for which they must project force well beyond their territorial waters.

The protection of sea routes, which are vital economic lifelines, especially for energy supplies, is an essential aspect of this broader role, and the prevailing mistrust among the nations of the region has inevitably made such tasks more difficult and complex. Unfortunately, in this climate of suspicion, there is an increasing risk of prolonged stand-offs between maritime forces giving rise to serious incidents. Even minor altercations can rapidly escalate into military conflict, because many regional security forces are now adopting proactive or even offensive postures. This problem is aggravated by the close geographical proximity of potential adversaries, and constrained sea space in which their operations take place in disputed waters. Nevertheless, the established diplomatic and benign role of the maritime security forces in the furtherance of peace and stability has expanded considerably.

Improving Maritime Crisis Management

Maritime cooperation comprises more than just the use of maritime security forces. To maintain stability, a crisis management framework between disputing parties is essential to prevent miscalculations and misunderstandings escalating into serious incidents. Perhaps, the most sensitive issue demanding such cooperation concerns preserving the freedom of the skies over areas where maritime jurisdictional rights and interests are contested. Specifically, the dispute between China and Japan over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea is particularly perilous. The Chinese government has unilaterally declared an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) which includes coverage of these islands; and maritime patrol surveillance aircraft from these countries continue to monitor one another closely, with frequent dangerous interceptions.

Thus, the possibility of severe clashes, at sea or in the air above the South and East China seas remains unacceptably high, and these risks can only be mitigated by improved maritime crisis management mechanisms like hotlines, policy channels, and strategic dialogues.

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Seen in this light, the disappearance of flight MH370 offers an opportunity for various parties who are deeply mistrustful of one another to engage with potential opponents in a constructive manner. For example, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Obama have spoken by telephone to coordinate SAR and HADR operations between their maritime security forces and to avoid clashes in the disputed areas of the South China Sea.

To build upon this new spirit of cooperation, some helpful maritime crisis management measures may be identified: Enhance maritime security and confidence-building measures, without undermining national maritime rights and interests; Make use of strategic dialogues and hotlines, and conduct exercises and operations only after giving prior information; establish protocols similar to the Incident at Sea (INCSEA) or the Code for Unalerted Encounters between Ships (CUES); Agree a common understanding of the law of the sea; and Encourage information sharing of “actionable intelligence” to facilitate maritime cooperation.

Fresh start for maritime security?

Although the disappearance of MH370 is undeniably tragic, something positive may come out of it. Regional maritime security forces are involved simultaneously in SAR and HADR operations, and the cooperation which this obliges presents a useful opportunity to build confidence, and thus to make unwanted maritime confrontations less likely in the future. By allowing a fresh start, this tragedy should contribute to ensuring peace and good order at sea by helping to alleviate the widespread distrust which so bedevils the security of the Asia-Pacific region.

(Captain (ROK Navy Retd) Sukjoon Yoon is a Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for Maritime Strategy)

Source: RSIS, 17 March 2014

Danger at Sea: It's Not Just Pirates

The annals of human history are littered with tales of harrowing trials at sea; from Jonah and the whale to Odysseus to Captain Phillips. Over the centuries, the maritime environment has always presented a unique set of challenges. Although many of those factors persist today, new challenges have emerged. Learning to overcome these obstacles, or at least mitigate the risks they create, remains an essential task for the maritime sector. Some maritime risks are constants. Storms are a persistent hazard, managing logistics and supply chains will always be complicated, and salt water will forever be hard on equipment. Other risks are more dynamic. As Control Risks highlights in Risk Map Maritime 2014, the greatest risks in the coming year will arise from a combination of criminal actors and the ebbing of political tides.

Piracy is nothing new, but trends in modern maritime piracy continue to shift. For part of the last decade, the word seemed almost synonymous with the waters off the Horn of Africa. Yet in the last year, the Gulf of Guinea and waters off the coast of Nigeria have witnessed more incidents of piracy than those off the coast of Somalia. Pirates in different locales often have different intentions—some seek to kidnap crew members for ransom, others wish to hijack product tankers to steal their lucrative cargo. Various jurisdictions may also require a change in security strategy: while armed guards are typically accepted in the Horn of Africa, the legal landscape and nature of the threats in West Africa make an armed solution less practical.

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Though it captures headlines, hijacking and kidnapping isn’t even the greatest cause of maritime crime. Crimes of opportunity are much more common. Thefts or robberies from vessels that are anchored, drifting or berthed in port form the bulk of criminal incidents. While the consequences and profile are not as great as some other risks, this low-level crime remains a persistent threat to the safety and well-being of crew members. Political unrest is typically a hazard for landlubbers to negotiate, but civil instability can disrupt the maritime environment as well. In Libya, protestors seized oil export terminals; while the Libyan navy twice fired warning shots at foreign tankers they suspected were trying to load cargo at the terminals. Last year, protests in Egypt led to delays in cargo operations, and the threat that traffic through the Suez Canal could be affected caused some companies to explore contingencies. Political conflicts can also lead to increased migration; raising the risk of collisions with migrant vessels or delays caused by stowaways.

Of course, social unrest can lead to violence, too. Last September, an Egyptian militant group fired two rocket propelled grenades at the COSCO Asia as it transited through the Suez Canal. Two weeks earlier, a truck bomb damaged a bulk carrier in the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr. Additionally, in Yemen, the Balhaf liquefied natural gas facility endured a number of incidents, including a suicide car bomb at its gates and a mortar attack on the facility itself. International territorial disputes—such as the ongoing friction between China and Japan in the East China Sea—have the potential to create tremendous disruptions for the shipping industry should they escalate. However such a scenario remains unlikely, as these disputes typically remain contained. However, they can hurt local fishing and tourism industries and, where offshore oil and gas reserves exist; maritime boundary disputes can lead to harassment or even prompt the cancellation of contracts.

Source: Forbes, 18 March 2014

Can ASEAN Respond to the Chinese Challenge?

China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, resume consultations on the South China Sea in Singapore today. In theory, active work on a declaration and code on conduct for the South China Sea – the arena of conflicting territorial claims - should ease tensions, but the opposite may be true. On March 9 China took the unilateral step of blocking Philippines ships attempting to resupply marines on Second Thomas Shoal. Also, growing tension between China and Malaysia over the fruitless search for missing Malaysian flight MH307, carrying 239 people, including 154 Chinese – could further sour the meeting. The first round of consultations, in China in September, was under the umbrella of the Joint Working Group to Implement the Declaration on Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, or DOC, and the first time that the group held preliminary discussions on a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, or COC.

Although consultations on the DOC and COC are proceeding in parallel, China insists that priority should be given to implementing the DOC. ASEAN would prefer separate consultations on the DOC and COC, with the latter raised from working group to senior-official level. ASEAN also advocates an “early harvest” approach on the COC – as soon as agreement is reached on one issue it should be implemented immediately, not waiting for agreement on the entire COC. ASEAN also would like the COC to be legally binding. In private, ASEAN diplomats state they would like the COC finalized before the end of 2015 when the ASEAN Political-Security Community comes into being.

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ASEAN faces at least two problems in its pursuit of a COC with China. First, although the DOC enjoins the parties “to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability,” China has continually altered the status quo in its favor through unilateral actions. For example, in November, China announced its prerogative to establish an Air Defense Identification Zone over the South China Sea. Also that month, Hainan provincial authorities announced revisions to fishing regulations covering nearly 60 percent of the South China Sea including the exclusive economic zones of several claimant states. Under the revised regulations, foreign boats are required to seek prior permission before fishing in this area. In January, China commenced regular patrols to enforce these regulations; authorities report arrests of foreign fishing boats on a weekly basis.

Chinese Coast Guard vessels took the unilateral step March 9 of blocking two Philippines ships attempting to resupply marines on Second Thomas Shoal. The Philippines was forced to resupply the marines by air. ASEAN diplomacy has failed to convince China to exercise self-restraint.

The second problem for ASEAN in attempting to secure an agreement on a binding COC with China is maintaining unity during negotiations. Beneath ASEAN’s veneer of diplomatic unity on South China Sea issues, individual members remain divided on how to pursue a binding COC. For example, domestic political tensions in Phnom Penh could result in Cambodia once again playing the spoiler role on South China Sea issues at China’s behest. The Hun Sen government is beset by mass protests over its manipulation of national elections. China has shown signs of distancing itself from Hun Sen. Opposition leader Sam Rainsy , perhaps hoping to capitalize, has stated his belief that Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea are valid. If Sam Rainsy should take office and endorse Chinese maritime claims, Cambodia would be the only ASEAN member country to do so

The four ASEAN claimant states to the South China Sea hold differing views on the South China Sea. The Philippines broke ranks with ASEAN by unilaterally filing a claim with the United Nations asking for an Arbitral Tribunal to make a determination of its legal entitlements under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea – without prior consultation with other ASEAN members. China privately lobbied other ASEAN members not to join the Philippines.

The Arbitral Tribunal has been set up. The Philippines must submit its full statement of claims by March 30. Vietnam and Malaysia weighed the pros and cons of joining the Philippines and appear to have adopted a wait-and-see attitude.

Vietnam claims sovereignty over the Paracel Islands and would like this archipelago included in the COC’s geographic scope. Other members of ASEAN view the Paracels as a bilateral matter between Beijing and Hanoi. In contrast to the Philippines, Vietnam has managed to keep the South China Sea dispute from affecting its overall bilateral relations with China.

Malaysia and Brunei, the other claimant states, have studiously adopted a low public profile on the South China Sea. Chinese fishing boats regularly intrude into Malaysia’s EEZ. Chinese paramilitary vessels, now rebadged as the China Coast Guard, regularly challenge vessels operated by Petronas, the state oil company, servicing off-shore rigs in Malaysia’s EEZ.

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In 2013 and in January this year a People’s Liberation Army Navy flotilla travelled to James Shoal, 80 kilometers off the coast of East Malaysia and the southernmost point of China’s nine-dash line claim to the South China Sea. Official Malaysian spokespersons incredulously denied knowledge of these events.

Malaysian officials are aware of illegal Chinese fishing activities and other assertions of Chinese sovereignty in the exclusive economic zone. In 2013, for example, Malaysian diplomats privately briefed academics from an ASEAN think tank and told them that aerial photos confirmed that PLAN flotilla near James Shoal.

This year, after Malaysian officials denied knowledge of the PLAN visit to James Shoal, the chief of the Malaysian Armed Forces confirmed the Chinese flotilla had been monitored as it “strayed into Malaysian waters… As long as it was an innocent passage it is okay with us.” Malaysian officials privately state that the “see nothing, know nothing” stance is dictated by Prime Minister Najib Razak who controls South China Sea policy and suppresses official statements critical of China. Yet a day after Malaysian the prime minister presented on the search for flight MH307 at a press conference, commentary in Xinhua, March 15, noted that the efforts were “either a dereliction of duty or reluctance to share information in a full and timely manner.”

The Philippines hosted the first ASEAN Claimants Working Group on February 18 in an effort to forge consensus among the states most concerned. In a blow to ASEAN consensus, Brunei failed to show. A month earlier, Brunei also declined to participate in a side meeting with three other claimant states at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Retreat in Myanmar. One positive aspect of that meeting, according to observers, was that Malaysia played a more engaged role than previously.

In the lead-up to the renewed ASEAN-China consultations, the United States has played a more proactive role in pressing China to bring its maritime territorial claims into accord with international law. The core members of ASEAN appear to be more unified than previously in pressing China to agree to cease unilateral actions that undermine regional security.

China has already warned that no one should expect quick results. In remarks to the National People’s Congress, Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated with respect to maritime disputes in the South China Sea, “China would like to carry out equal-footing consultation and negotiation and properly handle by peaceful means on the basis of respecting historical facts and international law. There will not be any change to this position.” Wang added, “We will never bully smaller countries, yet we will never accept unreasonable demands from smaller countries.”

(Carlyle A. Thayer is emeritus professor, The University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra.)

Source: Yale Global Online, 18 March 2014

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Andaman and Nicobar Islands: India’s Strategic Outpost

--By Jeff M. Smith

Missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 has acquainted the world with a long-forgotten corner of the Indian Ocean: the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANI). Known to few outside India, the island chain constitutes a valuable geopolitical asset for that country and is positioned to play a pivotal role in any maritime competition between India and China in the 21st century. In December 2012, I traveled to the ANI to conduct research for my new book, Cold Peace: China-India Rivalry in the 21st Century. Here’s what I found.

A distant and long-neglected sentinel outpost in the eastern Indian Ocean, the ANI are a chain of 572 islands (slightly more than 30 of which are inhabited) with a majority-Hindu population numbering just under 400,000. The most remarkable feature of the islands is their location: stretching over 500 miles north to south at the western entrance of the Strait of Malacca, they straddle one of the most critical naval and trade chokepoints in the world.

Some have likened the ANI to America’s Indian Ocean military outpost at Diego Garcia. However, the comparison is inadequate; though host to far more modest military capabilities, the ANI are in a far more valuable location, are 200 times the size of Diego Garcia, and enjoy a more solid foundation of volcanic soil than the British-owned coral atoll. Covered in thick tropical vegetation and host to India’s only active volcano, the ANI constitute just 0.2 percent of India’s landmass but provide for 30 percent (600,000 sq km) of the country’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The islands occupied a marginal position in India’s strategic consciousness until October 2001, when Delhi established a new Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) in the local capital, Port Blair. The ANC is India’s first and only joint tri-service command, with rotating three-star commanders-in-chief from the Army, Navy and Air Force reporting directly to the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee. Today the command serves as the focal point for Indian engagement with regional navies in Southeast Asia. This includes bi-annual coordinated patrols with the navies of Thailand and Indonesia, the annual SIMBEX maritime exercises with Singapore, and the biennial Milan multilateral naval exercises.

The ANC’s jurisdiction is limited to the islands’ exclusive economic zone, with no formal responsibility for the South China Sea. Its tasks include maritime surveillance, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, as well as suppressing gun running, narcotics smuggling, piracy, and poaching in India’s EEZ. However, Sainik Samachar, a magazine published by the Indian Ministry of Defense, notes the ANC’s mandate also includes “ensuring that the eastern approaches to the Indian Ocean comprising the three straits – Malacca, Lombok and Sunda – remain free from threats for shipping” as well as “monitor[ing] ships passing through the Six Degree and Ten Degree Channels.”

This last responsibility is critical, as the ANI enjoy domain over two channels west of the Strait of Malacca that play host to the world’s most important shipping lanes. The vast majority of international trade transiting the Strait of Malacca passes through the 200-kilometer-wide Six Degree Channel between the Indonesian island of Aceh and Great Nicobar, home to the Indian Navy’s newest air base.

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This means the bulk of container traffic through the Strait of Malacca also passes through India’s EEZ. To the north the 150-kilometer-wide Ten Degree Channel separates the Nicobar Islands from the Andaman Islands and is used by a much smaller volume of ships bound for the Bay of Bengal. With such premier real estate, Western observers might expect the ANI to be a cornerstone in India’s maritime strategy; a firewall against threats to the east and a power-projection platform serving India’s interests in the Pacific. And yet, by all accounts the ANC is only modestly equipped militarily.

Force-levels on the islands have remained largely static since the tri-service command was established in October 2001. The ANC hosts just one infantry brigade, around 15 small warships – mostly amphibious landing ship tanks and small landing craft – and a handful of Dornier-228 maritime patrol aircraft, as well as Mi-8 and Chetak helicopters. The command has no Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), despite requests from ANC commanders for Israeli-origin Heron UAVs. Reports suggest two Indian Navy warships are regularly deployed to patrol the northern and southern islands and in January 2013 the Indian Navy commissioned its largest offshore patrol vessel at the ANC for maritime surveillance and patrolling.

Port Blair, which began as a penal colony, was long shunned by the Indian military hierarchy as a desolate outpost. Delhi has not “outlined a bold geo-economic vision for the island chain,” says Indian analyst C. Raja Mohan which “can no longer be neglected as a group of islands suitable at best for the transportation of criminals and political offenders.”

Other Indian strategists have begun calling for a greater utilization of the ANC. Retired Indian Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja says India needs to “grow out of its earlier thinking” and “develop the islands as a hub or ‘spring board’” for power projection in the region. Others in the military establishment see the ANC as a “trump card” against China, ideally positioned to interdict Chinese oil supplies from the Gulf and Africa in any potential Sino-Indian confrontation. Some 80 percent of China’s oil imports currently pass through the Strait of Malacca. Retired Rear Admiral Raja Menon argues: “Today they are merely SLOCS [Sea Lines of Communication]; tomorrow they will be the Chinese Jugular…. [$10 billion] spent on strengthening the Indian Navy’s SLOC interdiction capability would have given us a stranglehold on the Chinese routes into the Indian Ocean.”

Such statements tend to underestimate the practical challenges associated with any single country attempting to “cut off” China’s oil supplies, even one as favorably positioned as India. The only conditions under which an operation to “cut” China’s SLOCs would likely be effective – and where the ANI could be adequately leveraged – would be in the event of a large-scale, multi-country conflict with the Indian Navy operating in conjunction with the U.S. Navy, the littoral states in the Strait of Malacca, and others.

That doesn’t mean India cannot or should not further develop the ANI as a strategic asset. As it finally begins to add strategic substance to the Look East Policy it adopted in 1991, India is conducting increasingly sophisticated and numerous military exercises with the U.S.-allied countries of the Western Pacific, transforming its once-dormant relationships with Japan and Australia, searching for energy off the coast of Vietnam, and working to ensure freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

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With its capabilities more fully developed, the ANI could help India monitor military and commercial traffic passing between the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific. They could provide India a forward position from which to serve its growing economic, political, and military interests in East Asia, and further position India as the “gatekeeper” of the Indian Ocean. At a time the People’s Liberation Army Navy is increasingly active in the Indian Ocean – including the recent deployment of its first nuclear submarine to the area – the timing is ripe.

(Jeff M. Smith is the Director of South Asia Programs and Kraemer Strategy Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC. This article was drawn from excerpts from his new book, Cold Peace: China-India Rivalry in the 21st Century.)

Source: The Diplomat, 18 March 2014

Hypersonic Missile Boosts Chinese Confidence

-- Katsuhiko Meshino

Gone is the century of humiliation for China in modern history," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi declared, expressing strong confidence that it will never happen again. Wang made the remarks in response to a question from a state-owned media reporter at a press conference during the annual National People's Congress on March 8. The press conference lasted for about one and a half hours. The question asked at the end of the event was: "You've been in the position of foreign minister for a year now. Can you talk to us about your personal experience and impression?" Wang's answers should provide food for thought for many. One may wonder why Wang referred to "the century of humiliation" when asked about his personal experience and impressions during his first year in office. You may also wonder why the top diplomat of the Communist Party-ruled government was so sure about not suffering the same fate again.

But judging from the nature of a press conference at the ceremonial legislature's annual session and given that the question was asked by a state-run media, it appeared that Wang was fully prepared for the question. We should assume that he did not speak of his personal experience and impressions, but sent a message to people both at home and abroad about China's unique worldview. This worldview appears to be based on a mix of victim mentality and a sense of national greatness, although almost all nations probably possess a touch of victim mentality. The big question about Wang's remarks is: why is he so confident that China's history of humiliation will never repeat itself? One recent news report may help answer this question.

Successful Test

The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative U.S. website, reported in mid-January that China conducted the first test flight of a new ultra-high speed missile vehicle. According to the report, China's military successfully tested the new craft capable of flying at speeds of up to 10 times the speed of sound, or Mach 10, on Jan. 9. The WFB reported the Chinese test, quoting U.S. defense department sources. Soon afterward, Chinese media effectively confirmed the report, citing officials at China's Ministry of National Defense. Mach 10 means that the new Chinese vehicle can travel at more than 12,000 kilometers per hour. The circumference of the Earth is about 40,000 kilometers, so this weapon is capable of striking targets anywhere on the globe in less than two hours.

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It is believed to be a hypersonic glide vehicle, which unlike ballistic missiles is maneuverable. Bonji Ohara, research fellow at the Tokyo Foundation, said that it is "almost impossible" for current missile defense systems to shoot down such a hypersonic object. "It is a revolutionary strategic weapon that could change the strategic balance of the world in the near future," he said.

Worldwide Race

The U.S. is leading the development race for the HGV. The U.S. is now developing a system called "Prompt Global Strike" that can bomb anywhere in the world within an hour. HGV is one of the key technologies for building this system. Washington has reportedly already conducted a successful test flight of a hypersonic vehicle. Russia and India are also said to be trying to develop HGVs. In Japan, the government-affiliated space agency, known as JAXA, is developing a turbojet engine for hypersonic aircraft, albeit for civilian use. But China's successful January test of a new ultra-high speed missile vehicle means that the country now takes second place in this global development race, behind the U.S. There is no doubt that China has significantly enhanced its weapon development capabilities. Beijing shows no sign of letting up its rapid military build-up, with defense spending set to surge ahead at a double-digit pace again this year. Wang has good reason to be confident about China's future power.

(Katsuhiko Meshino, Nikkei editorial writer)

Source: Nikkei, 19 March 2014

Hidden Dragon on the High Seas

-- Sandeep Unnithan On December 8 last year, India's military attaché in Beijing hurried out of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Ministry of National Defence and drove to the embassy at Chaoyang. The Brigadier-ranked officer was bearing an urgent message: China has just deployed, for the first time ever, a nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) in the Indian Ocean. The submarine, the officer had been told, had sailed out a few days earlier to help with the People Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's anti-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden and Beijing was now informing New Delhi of it "to demonstrate respect for India". The news triggered alarm in the highest echelons of India's security establishment; Beijing, it seemed, had finally put steel into the string of pearls, a network of Chinese-built naval bases ringing India that stretch from Myanmar and Sri Lanka in the east to Pakistan in the west. Reports by RAW, the Defence Intelligence Agency and the Directorate of Naval Intelligence warned the government that the deployment, "seriously aggravates India's security concerns".

Shang-class SSNs at the PLA Navy base in Hainan Island. Though Beijing claimed the Shang-class SSN was part of a routine anti-piracy patrol-it returned to its base on Hainan Island in the South China Sea on February 20 after two months in the Indian Ocean-New Delhi read more sinister motives. "Nuclear-powered attack submarines don't take part in anti-piracy patrols," a senior government official tells India today. Naval analysts predict it is a precursor to the deployment of a full-scale carrier battle group in the Indian Ocean. The battle group, a mobile force comprising attack submarines, warships, tankers and troop ships, will be centred around two aircraft carriers currently under construction.

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Retired Rear-Admiral Raja Menon says as much. "It was a reconnaissance probe, the prelude to a full-scale deployment."

Breathing Fire

If, rather than when, this happens, it will pose a direct threat to India's security and economic interests. India claims the region between the Gulf of Aden and the Malacca Straits as within its sphere of influence, one that is vital for its maritime commerce as 80 per cent of the country's energy supplies, about 3.86 million barrels of crude oil per day, pass through it. And it's largely to secure these waters that the Navy has for years been demanding 25 per cent of the defence budget-it now gets 17 per cent-to acquire aircraft, warships and submarines. Naval planners dismiss speculation that this demand is driven by a desire to move into the South China Sea and emphasise that the navy "has neither the capability nor the intent" to do so. "The Indian Ocean remains our primary focus," says a senior official in the defence ministry.

Shift in Balance of Power?

Now, the Chinese have sailed in and altered the balance of power in the Indian Ocean. Unlike conventional submarines, nuclear-powered submarines such as the Shang-class boats can operate submerged and almost undetected. Sailing at over 30 knots, they can attack warships, merchant vessels and use cruise missiles to hit targets on land. Chinese SSNs in the Indian Ocean can, thus, wreak havoc with India's naval plans, which rely mainly on a fleet of conventional diesel-electric submarines that are limited by range, endurance and size. A fleet of four such boats on a 'barrier patrol' can choke India's energy supplies, isolate the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and threaten the INS Vikramaditya carrier battle group. They can even impede deployment of the slower Arihant nuclear submarines from their base in Visakhapatnam into the Bay of Bengal and beyond. "India has no strategic capability yet to deter China," says retired Vice-Admiral K.N. Sushil, veteran submariner and former Southern Naval Command chief. "We are yet to sail the Arihant and are nowhere near starting our own SSN programme. We will therefore, be self-deterred and without the capability to retaliate.

This was despite the fact that deployment of the Chinese SSN in India's backyard was not entirely unexpected. Naval watchers were well aware of the three-phase strategy of military expansion, propounded by PLA Navy chief Admiral Liu Huaqing in the late 1980s-upgrade the navy into a blue water force or one capable of operating beyond territorial waters; deploy in the Indian Ocean between 2011 and 2020; and undertake global operations sometime between 2021 and 2049. The PLA Navy has since advanced this timeframe. Using piracy as an excuse, it has deployed warships to protect its merchant vessels and sailors in the Gulf of Aden since 2008. "For China, piracy has come as a huge opportunity," an Indian admiral told India today late last year. "Now they will continue their deployments on some pretext or the other."

No Success

No wonder, the mood in the Indian naval headquarters in South Block has turned from bluster to bewilderment. That China's move comes amid a crisis in the Indian Navy has only made matters worse. The Navy is headless since Admiral D.K. Joshi quit on February 26 in the wake of a string of accidents beginning with the August 14, 2013, destruction of the submarine INS Sindhurakshak.

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The government has dithered over choosing Joshi's successor. The Navy's submarine arm is in a rut. It has not acquired a new conventional undersea platform in 14 years and just half their fleets of 13 ageing conventional submarines are operational. It operates a solitary nuclear-powered attack submarine, the INS Chakra leased from Russia in 2012, even as it struggles to put the first indigenous nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine to sea. And this is not for want of funds. The country has spent more than $6 billion over the past decade on building conventional and nuclear submarines. But the project has been crippled by a lack of long-term strategic vision within the Navy, and bureaucratic delays.

All at Sea

Months before the INS Sindhurakshak exploded and sank in Mumbai harbour, the navy had proposed life-extension of its fleet of 14 submarines. Refits would extend lives of older submarines by seven years-a submarine has an average life span of 25 years-but this plan is yet to be approved. Even if the upgrade rolls out, it will come with disadvantages: A refurbished submarine will be available only 10 days a month while as a new boat is available for 20 days. New submarines are what the Navy doesn't have. The six Scorpenes bought from France in 2005 were to join the fleet in 2012 but "procedural delays in financial sanctions" caused by the bureaucracy have delayed induction till at least 2017. The shrinking fleet, meanwhile, has led to a glut of personnel. If 150 officers manned 12 submarines a decade ago, there are 700 officers for seven operational submarines now. Submariners thus, have to contend with shorter sea tenures, which adversely impacts their training and efficiency. Besides, such worries may have clouded assessment of the looming threat from China and, worse, even injected a sense of complacency.

In contrast, China has embarked on the world's largest military expansion. Only last week, it increased its defence budget by 12.2 per cent from last year to $40 billion-the actual budget may be 40 per cent higher-to fund, among other things, construction of a fleet of over 20 nuclear-powered attack submarines. On the other hand, India will spend $6 billion on defence this year. Still some in India's defence establishment are not worried. A senior submariner says he is unruffled by PLA Navy's SSN deployments because "their reliability to deploy beyond their submarine bases is not established yet. There's a question mark on the ability of their SSNs to operate unhindered."

That may be so. But it's nobody's case that India can afford to be lax as for as defence preparedness goes. The country has struggled with a three-decade-old project to field a small force of three indigenous 6,000-tonne nuclear-powered submarines fitted with nuclear missiles. The first submarine, Arihant, was launched in 2009 but is yet to begin sea trials. The government is also yet to clear a classified 2010 naval proposal to build a fleet of four vessels like the Shang-class SSNs. The navy, meanwhile, is pushing hard to get more conventional submarines -top of its list are six Project 75 'India' submarines, which come at Rs.3,000 crore a piece and are bigger than the Scorpenes-never mind they will have limited utility against Chinese SSNs. The proposal has been blocked by the finance ministry citing the exorbitant cost. In all, the Navy wants to add 24 conventional submarines to its fleet, at a cost of Rs.76,000 crore. This makes little sense to analysts such as Rear Admiral (Retd) Menon, who say the navy must scrap all its plans for conventional submarines and remake itself into an all-nuclear navy like those of the US, France and the UK.

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What's the Navy thinking on this? A naval officer says the changing strategic scenario in the Indian Ocean could force them into leasing a second nuclear-powered attack submarine. It is just another tactical response to another strategic problem.

Source: India Today, 21 March 2014

Search for Missing Malaysian Jet Reveals Limits of China's Power and Military Might

China has not held back in forcing the pace of the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. It has deployed 21 satellites and a flotilla of naval ships. It has dispatched investigators to Malaysia, run background checks on the Chinese passengers, and scoured radar images of its vast western regions. Every day it has cajoled, chided and criticized Malaysian officials. And still it has come up empty-handed. Two weeks after the plane vanished on an overnight flight to Beijing, no trace of the Boeing 777 jet or the 239 people on board, two-thirds of whom are Chinese, has been found.

The painful process of working with Malaysia in searching for the airplane and investigating what went wrong in the early hours of March 8 has revealed the limits of China's power, influence and technological and military might in the region, despite its rapid rise as a rival to the United States and American strategic dominance of the Western Pacific. Within China, anguished relatives and friends of the passengers and their many sympathizers are pressing hard for answers, but the government finds itself helpless as Malaysia takes the lead in the search and investigation efforts, which is consistent with international norms on air disasters.

Malaysia has been keeping other nations, including China, at a distance, to the frustration of officials here, according to political observers. That tension is reflected in the frequent condemnations of Malaysia that have appeared in the Chinese state news media. China is out of its comfort zone, no longer in the position of strength from which it usually deals with smaller Asian nations, including Malaysia. The two countries have for decade’s maintained strong economic ties, and Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, promised closer economic and military cooperation on a visit to Malaysia in October. At the same time, China has not been shy about pressing Malaysia on a range of delicate issues - in January, it sent a naval patrol to a reef in the South China Sea that is claimed by Malaysia; in 2012, it welcomed Malaysia's deportation of six ethnic Uighurs who had fled from China.

Now, Chinese officials find themselves desperately prodding Malaysia to share information, to allow China a hand in the investigation and to placate the irate Chinese families who demand answers daily. "If you don't push them, they won't move," Zhu Zhenming, a scholar of Southeast Asia at the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, said about the Malaysian authorities. "It's mostly to do with their administrative management capabilities, but also their culture." He added that Malaysia was "too lacking" when it came to "dealing with disaster management" - "not because they don't want to do it, but because they cannot." That sense of frustration, and perhaps condescension, has come through even in official Chinese remarks that were intended to be diplomatic. On Tuesday, Huang Huikang, the Chinese ambassador to Malaysia, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur that "the Malaysian government has insufficient capabilities, technologies and experience in responding to the MH370 incident, but they did their best."

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In some ways, the complaints reinforce a belief that many Chinese have long held: that their political culture is superior to those of Southeast Asian nations. In that worldview, Southeast Asia has throughout history been a less-developed region that looked up to China and tried to both appease and imitate it.

Malaysia, a country dominated by an ethnic Malay, mostly Muslim population, with a significant ethnic Chinese minority, is no exception, in the eyes of many Chinese. The plane crisis is strengthening those prejudices, analysts say. "The image of the Malaysian government has dropped in the eyes of the Chinese government and the Chinese people," said Bo Zhiyue, a scholar of Chinese politics at the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore. "Compared to the Malaysian government, the Chinese government is quicker and more responsive and so forth." He said the episode had reinforced the view among Chinese that their system "is not inferior to other systems, and is in some ways superior to other systems in its efficiency."

Like China, Malaysia has been governed by the same political party for decades, but there are important differences. Malaysia has robust opposition parties, and unlike many of its neighbors, its military has not played a major role in domestic politics. That means that Malaysian commanders have less frequent contact with civilian leaders than their counterparts in some other Asian nations, including China, where Xi, chief of the Communist Party, directs the military.

Some political analysts say that if the Malaysian military had closer ties to civilian officials, there might have been earlier agreement on how to interpret and share military radar data that tracked an aircraft, now believed to be Flight 370, flying westward to the Indian Ocean rather than going down near its original course across the Gulf of Thailand, where search efforts were focused in the first days after it disappeared. The late announcement of the radar data embarrassed Malaysia and angered many other nations.

"In Malaysia, the system is much more decentralized," Bo said. "The military have their own domain." Huang, the Chinese ambassador, said Tuesday that Malaysia needed to be much more open with the information it had. That night, Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency, published a commentary that said: "Due to the lack of transparency, massive efforts have been squandered and numerous rumors have been swirling, repeatedly racking the nerves of the waiting families. Therefore, there is no excuse for repeating the same mistakes."

Chinese officials are under intense pressure to solve the mystery of Flight 370 in part because of the timing of its disappearance, just one week after attackers went on a knifing rampage in a train station in southwest China, killing 29 people and injuring nearly 150. Chinese officials said that the rampage was a terrorist act and that the attackers appeared to have come from Xinjiang, the western province where violence has been mounting between ethnic Uighurs and the ruling ethnic Han.

Many people initially thought that Flight 370's disappearance was another act of terrorism, possibly committed by Uighurs, though U.S. officials say they believe terrorists are probably not involved. China's own investigation of its citizens on the plane found that none had any ties to militancy, including an ethnic Uighur who was on board.

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Nevertheless, both the train-station massacre and the flight's disappearance are national traumas arising from events beyond the control of the Chinese authorities, said Bo, the scholar in Singapore." It's a little sensitive, and it seems a little embarrassing," he said. "They need to make an extra effort to make it look like they're taking it seriously and commit resources to find an answer to the problem." Chinese propaganda officials have ordered domestic news organizations to not independently analyze or comment on the flight, and to ensure that their coverage is consistent with material provided by the Chinese government, according to China Digital Times, an organization in Berkeley, Calif., that tracks the Chinese news media.

Chinese military officials have become intensely focused on the missing plane, said one Western official here who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicate diplomatic issues involved. "These guys in the military are drilling themselves into the ground," the official said. Gen. Fang Fenghui, chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army, called a Malaysian commander and said that as long as there was a glimmer of hope, everyone had to put in 100 percent effort, according to an announcement on the Chinese Defense Ministry's website. Fang added that the Malaysian military could give more assistance to the Chinese military in the search efforts, the announcement said.

The feeling of helplessness in China was also reflected at the Malaysian government news conference in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, when Chinese relatives of missing passengers broke into the room and unfurled banners demanding action. Guards dragged them away, but not before journalists inside recorded their cries of anguish.

Source: The Economic Times, 22 March 2014

3 Surprising Sources of Oil Pollution in the Ocean

-- Christine Dell'Amore and Christina Nunez

Obvious oil spills, like the 168,000 gallons (635,000 liters) of oil that leaked into Galveston Bay on Saturday, usually make national news, accompanied by pictures of oil-blackened wildlife. But such publicized events account for only a small part of the total amount of oil pollution in the oceans—and many of the other sources, such as automobile oil, go largely unnoticed, scientists say.

In fact, of the tens of millions of gallons of oil that enter North American oceans each year due to human activities, only 8 percent comes from tanker or oil pipeline spills, according to the 2003 book Oil in the Sea III by the U.S. National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, which is still considered the authority on oil-spill data.

Most oil pollution is "different than the pictures you see of beaches covered with tar and ducks getting stuck in it," said David Valentine, a bio geochemist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. (Read more about how pollution harms the oceans.). Here are three little-reported sources of oil that contribute to oil pollution in North American oceans.

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1. Natural Seeps

Natural seeps of oil underneath the Earth's surface account for 60 percent of the estimated total load in North American waters and 40 percent worldwide, according to the National Academy of Sciences. These leakages occur when oil—which is lighter than water—escapes into the water column from highly pressurized seafloor rock. (Read about Gulf of Mexico seeps.) Off Santa Barbara, California, some 20 to 25 tons of oil flows from seafloor cracks daily—making it one of the world's largest seeps. Valentine, who studies the Santa Barbara seep, noted that much of the natural oil is consumed by ocean bacteria that have evolved to eat certain oil molecules. (Read about how nature tackles oil spills.) But in "places which don't have natural oil seeps and you come along with an oil spill or a sewer pipe that delivers [oil pollution], organisms have not had an opportunity to adapt and are going to respond differently," said John Farrington, dean emeritus and marine geochemist with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

2. Cars and Other Land Vehicles

A "pretty big issue," Valentine said, is the oil on roads and other surfaces that's flushed into the sea during rainstorms. Most cars drip oil onto the ground, usually on impermeable concrete or asphalt, and that oil ends up trickling into the ocean. In drier places like California, the oil builds up on the asphalt and, when it finally rains, the water shuttles large amounts of oil into the ocean. "We're doing a much better job than 40 or 50 years ago of recycling motor oil," Woods Hole's Farrington said. "You can find storm sewers around the nation that have stencils on them that say 'don't dump, it goes to the sea.' So there's less input in that regard." But he notes that there are still a lot of cars and trucks contributing to the "dribble, dribble and dribble" effect of slow leaks that end up on asphalt and contribute to runoff pollution.

Not surprisingly, this sort of invisible pollution is more subtle than the Galveston Bay spill, which is much more localized and visible, Valentine noted. Oil runoff from land is "complex in that it can hang around [in the ocean] and move between water and sediment, [which] makes it difficult to effectively track." A hotly debated topic, he added, is what these constant pulses of oil are doing to the environment and its inhabitants. Scientists know that animals directly exposed to oil suffer health problems, but what's unknown is the impact of low, chronic oil exposures on wildlife, he said.

3. Recreational Boats

People operating recreational craft, such as Jet Skis and boats, sometimes spill oil into the ocean. “It’s usually operational error, human error or unpreparedness, [or] lack of education. A lot of time mostly it's just negligence," said Aaron Barnett, a boating program specialist at Washington Sea Grant, a state-federal partnership aimed at marine research and outreach across Washington State. "It's just not on [boaters'] radar scope. They're there to have fun, its leisure, its recreation. ... That means that certain things don't get dealt with, like proper engine maintenance." Barnett added that boat owners will top off their fuel tanks as they would a car, and on a hot day the fuel expands and escapes through a vent. Just like land-based pollution, though, oil spills by recreational boats are "hard to track, because about 80 percent of oil spills go unreported, so there's really no way to know" on what scale this is happening, Barnett said. Overall, he said, the Environmental Protection Agency "looks at the small-oil-spill problem as sort of like death by a thousand cuts."

Source: National Geographical, 25 March 2014

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India-Japan Vietnam Strategic Trilateral- An Asian Security Imperative

--Dr. Subhash Kapil

India-Japan-Vietnam strategic trilateral emerges in 2014 as an indigenous Asian security imperative against the contextual background of United States and Russia despite their Strategic Pivots to Asia getting distracted by global and regional events. United States sustained focus on its Strategic Pivot to Asia Pacific is seemingly becoming diluted by domestic political constraints and revised foreign policy outlooks. US Congressional imposition of budgetary cuts is ending in reduced force deployments on the ground. With change of US Secretary of State American focus is shifting to the Middle East. US hedging strategies and risk aversion in its China policies are confusing Asian powers perspectives on US real intentions.

Russia is being distracted from its declared Strategic Pivot to Asia Pacific by the United States embarking to destabilise Russia’s Western peripheries as it recently got manifested in an American inspired regime change in Ukraine through a civilian coup. The aim of the United States is to keep Russia’s strategic focus away from the Asia Pacific. In such a contextual strategic backdrop Asian security focus has to perforce look inwards to develop an indigenous Asian security trilateral to cater for Asian security and stability and the management of Asian conflicts flash-points. Ideally Asian security demands an Asian Strategic Quadrilateral comprising India, Japan, Vietnam and China. But then the problem is that China in terms of Asian security and stability is a major part of the problem rather than being a part of the solution. Asian security and stability today stands endangered by China-initiated conflictual flash-points.

The imperative that therefore emerges is an Asian Strategic Trilateral comprising India, Japan and Vietnam. Common strategic concerns and strategic convergences amongst India, Japan and Vietnam have resulted in the forging of bilateral Strategic Partnerships amongst these three nations. China is the only Asian power to view the emergence of such a Strategic Triangle with misgivings and read it as a China-centric hostile move.

Notably, neither United States nor Russia as global powers is likely to view such a strategic development with any degree of concern. India, Japan and Vietnam have a record of being stable and benign powers with no record of instigating conflicts against their neighbours. India, Japan and Vietnam are strategically pivotal nations and powerful ones at that, relatively. What requires to be done in this direction by these three nations is to synergise their respective bilateral Strategic Partnerships into a Strategic Trilateral.

As stressed by me in an earlier Paper, the aim of such a Strategic Trilateral is not to form a China-containment military bloc. The common effort required from all these three nations is to create formal mechanisms to coordinate their diplomatic efforts and initiatives to ensure a unified approach to meet any challenges to Asia Pacific security from any quarter. It would also entail intelligence sharing and assisting each other in capacity building of their respective maritime security postures. They should also work together to sensitise the global community for all countries to respect and honour international conventions especially in the maritime domains. Such a Strategic Trilateral would not be directed against undermining of the centrality of ASEAN but complimenting it and therefore, should not create any alarms in ASEAN as a regional grouping.

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It does need to be pointed out that ASEAN unity in recently years is being divided by China for its narrow strategic ends and the vulnerability of smaller ASEAN country reduces the efficacy of ASEAN to deal with conflicts such as South China Sea conflict escalation by China against its ASEAN neighbours. In terms of political acceptability of the concept of an India-Japan-Vietnam Strategic Triangle one can assess that Japan and Vietnam would be inclined to work towards implementation of such a concept.

India if reluctant has to convince itself that if it has worked towards forging substantive Strategic Partnerships with both Vietnam and Japan and there should not be any misgivings in forging a Strategic Trilateral India has already set a precedent in participating in the US-Japan-India Trilateral and further in a US-Japan-Australia-India Quadrilateral. Finally, the time has come and the moment has arrived when the idea of such a Strategic Trilateral of India-Japan-Vietnam is vigorously explored and forged in the interests of Asian security and stability.

Source: SAAG, 28 March 2014

Beijing’s South China Sea Strategies: Consolidation and Provocation

-- Gregory B. Poling

Recent months have seen a steady progression of China’s long-term strategy in the South China Sea, which can be loosely divided into two parts. Beijing is building up its maritime surveillance forces in the area and strengthening effective control of the features it occupies. At the same time, Chinese vessels are venturing far afield with greater frequency to assert Beijing’s claims to the entire area encompassed by the “nine-dash line,” and to provoke missteps by fellow claimants.

Authorities in China’s Hainan Province made waves last November by issuing regulations to implement a 2004 national fisheries law. One regulation requires foreign fishing vessels to receive prior approval before entering waters administered by Hainan, which include all of China’s claims in the South China Sea. This set off alarm bells in Southeast Asia and beyond.

The regulations are a worrying attempt to enforce China’s heavy-handed control over disputed waters, but they do not signal a new strategy. The contentious article in the Hainan fishing regulations repeats almost word for word the language of the 2004 national fisheries law that it implements. The timing of the regulation’s release, in the same month that Beijing declared its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea, sparked understandable fears that China was adopting a more hardline approach to maritime disputes. The Hainan fishing rules signal the same disregard for international law and norms that China has shown dozens of times since it submitted the nine-dash line as a note verbale to the United Nations in 2009.

They do not mark a new direction in Beijing’s South China Sea policy but rather the latest step in a long-term plan to consolidate effective control over disputed areas. China has considerably increased the size of its maritime surveillance and law enforcement fleet in the South China Sea. And thanks to the 2012 establishment of Sansha City in the Paracels and the 2013 consolidation of several agencies into the Chinese Coast Guard, those fleets are becoming increasingly more coordinated.

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The Communist Party secretary for Hainan indicated on 6 March that Chinese ships are now intercepting Vietnamese fishermen in the Paracels at an unprecedented rate, stating, ‘”here’s something like this happening if not every day then at least once a week.” Chinese enforcement remains focused on the Paracels, while paying only episodic attention to Scarborough Shoal, which is farther afield and receives more international attention. Philippine defense secretary Voltaire Gazmin announced that Filipino fishermen were operating alongside Chinese surveillance vessels near the shoal without interference. But barely a week later, a Chinese ship used water cannon to drive off a Philippine vessel.

The Spratlys and other areas of the South China Sea remain beyond the reach of Hainan’s fishing regulations, or any other effective Chinese administration. Since Beijing lacks the capacity to patrol and enforce its writ in such a large and highly contested area, it has resorted to symbolic expressions of sovereignty. In January, a Chinese amphibious assault ship and two destroyers patrolled James Shoal, at the southern reaches of the nine-dash line, while Chinese marines held a ceremony at the feature swearing to defend Chinese sovereignty.

James Shoal is a completely submerged feature just 50 miles from Malaysia, making China’s claim to it farcical, but still symbolic. In addition to sending a message to the region, Beijing seems to be taking such actions in the hopes of provoking other claimants into missteps from which Beijing can benefit. This is what happened at Scarborough Shoal in April 2012 with the Philippines–China standoff and with Japan’s nationalization of the Senkakus in September 2012.

A lot of noise has been made in the foreign press suggesting that Chinese actions — from new fishing regulations to the ADIZ to increased maritime patrols — are meant to strengthen its legal case by showing effective administration of the disputed areas. But China’s legal experts know better. Under international law, nothing a claimant in a territorial dispute does after the “critical date” at which the dispute is recognized matters. So no new Chinese legislation, occupation, or administration can have any bearing on the legality of its claims.

Instead, China is seeking to avoid international law altogether by strengthening effective control and changing the status quo little by little. Eventually Beijing expects that fellow claimants will be forced to accept the reality of Chinese control. Until then, the international community’s railing against the illegality of China’s claims will have little effect. As long as Beijing refuses arbitration, avoids international courts, and refrains from outright aggression, it assumes it will win the long game.

But the region is waking up to this danger. Malaysia in recent weeks seems to be aligning more closely with its fellow claimants. Vietnam continues to vocally oppose each new Chinese provocation. And most importantly, the Philippines has brought an arbitration case that could embolden its neighbors and pull back the curtain on Beijing’s policy of skirting the law while changing facts on the ground.

(Mr. Gregory B. Poling is a Fellow with the Sumitro Chair for Southeast Asia Studies at CSIS. Follow him on twitter @GregPoling)

Source: CSIS, 28 March 2014

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Search Operation Mismanaged: Chinese Navy

Beijing using MH370 Search to Assert Maritime Claims: Japanese Media

Indian Arms Imports Grow By 111 Percent: SIPRI

Aussie Defence Minister for Maritime Talks in Jakarta

New Pact to Boost PHL's Maritime Security –US Envoy

Japan, Vietnam Leaders Meet, Focus on Maritime Security

Ayungin Shoal Remains Part of Philippines Even If Troops Withdraw

China Splits Search-And-Rescue Fleet as Hunt for Missing Flight 370 Leads into Vast Indian Ocean

International Confidence and Security Building above the Arctic Circle

Cold Response: NATO Exercises in the Arctic Circle

Australia Unwraps National Plan for Maritime Emergency Response

US Navy to Study for Cheaper Small Warship

Jakarta Dialogue Stresses Maritime Peace

Taipei, Manila Poised to Ink Maritime Cooperation Pact

Operation Copper Now Only with SA and Mozambique

Ghana's Waters May Just Be the Next Target for Pirates - Security Expert

Kenya Pushes For Joint War on Indian Ocean Pirates

Most Imminent Threat to African Trade Comes From the Sea…Piracy

China's Request For Entering INDIAN Waters Turned Down

China's MSR Plan Throws up Positive Opportunities: Raja Mohan

US Forces Hand Over Seized Oil Tanker to Libya

China to Have Nuclear Missiles on Subs Soon: US Admiral

Japan, U.S. to Conduct Space-Based Maritime Surveillance Exercise

Qatar’s Maritime Defence Vital: Official

Overseas Bases Would Help PLA With 'rescue ops,' says Global Times

India, US Officials Meet to Discuss Maritime Security, Trade

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: U.S. Navy Ping Detector Set to be taken to Search Area

Philippine Ship Dodges China Blockade

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Search Operation Mismanaged: Chinese Navy The Chinese naval search for the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft in the South China Sea has been hampered by mismanagement of the 12-nation search operation. "Due to the inaccuracy of the previously reported identification points, the search operation organized currently is short of the references and targets which should have been provided," the People's Liberation Army said quoting Duan Zhaoxian, the leader of the Chinese naval search force. Chinese leaders have earlier asked Malaysian authorities for "timely release of authoritative and detailed information", suggesting they were not entirely happy with Kuala Lumpur's response. Source: The Times of India, 15 March 2014

Beijing using MH370 Search to Assert Maritime Claims: Japanese Media Through sending 10 warships and maritime security vessels to the disputed South China Sea region to help in the rescue efforts for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, China is trying to fortify its control of the region, according to the Japanese-language Tokyo Shimbun newspaper. While two of the PLA Navy's largest ships, the Type 071 amphibious assault ship Jinggang Shan and the Fuchi-class supply ship Qiandaohu, were deployed to the South China Sea, the paper said, multiple satellites had also been deployed by the China Center for Resources Satellite Data and Application for the search and rescue operation. Even though the plane's last contact was over the waters between Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, China may continue the search for the missing aircraft in the region by claiming that it has not received full cooperation from these countries. Most smaller nations are unable to conduct such operations over a longer period of time due to their lack of means, for this reason, China may be the only nation in the region to continue the rescue efforts. Furthermore, subsequent revelations concerning the disappearance of the flight suggest that the plane's communications were deliberately shut down and its course changed after it went silent, and that it may have continued to fly for several hours on its remaining fuel, expanding the potential search area to almost impossible dimensions. The paper reported that China is apparently trying to establish its dominance in the South China Sea through close cooperation with the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. In addition to economic cooperation, the newspaper said that China is likely to assert its maritime power in the region through joint rescue operations or other security-related issue in the future. This will eventually solidify China's claim over the disputed Spratly Islands. The Spratlys are claimed in whole or in part by China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia. Source: Want China Times, 16 March 2014

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Indian Arms Imports Grow By 111 Percent: SIPRI India has become the world's largest arms importer over 2004-13 with Russia winning 75 percent of the orders to replace the Indian armed forces' old, Soviet vintage weapons, SIPRI said Monday, adding the country's purchases had increased by 111 percent. In a report on world arms transfers, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said that South Asia, including both India and Pakistan, and the Arab Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have shown a rising trend in arms imports. During the nine-year period, specifically 2004-8 and 2009-13, India's arms imports grew by 111 percent, and that of Pakistan by 119 percent over their respective pre-2004 figures. SIPRI pointed out that "its data reflects the volume of deliveries of arms, not the financial value of the deals. As the volume of deliveries can fluctuate significantly year-on-year, SIPRI presents data for 5-year periods, giving a more stable measure of trends." It has to be kept in mind that although India has acquired substantial number of weapons, these do not indicate any aggressive buildup as most of what is being bought is to replace its 30-40-year-old inventory. There are, in fact, several important deals pending either due to procedural delays or allegations of corruption, necessitating inquiries. Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) sources told India Strategic(www.indiastrategic.in) defence magazine that the SIPRI report is "interesting, not surprising," adding that several major systems had been ordered in the recent years for all the three Services. "There are delays, yes, largely due to correct or unfounded allegations, and also due to procedural issues both within the armed forces and the MoD, but there has been progress forward," the sources said. The Indian Air Force (IAF), for instance, has selected several systems from combat aircraft (Rafale MMRCA) to midair refuellers (Airbus A 330 MRTT), Boeing C-17 Globemaster III heavy lift transport aircraft, Lockheed Martin's C-130J Special Operations aircraft, Russian Mi 17 V5 helicopters, 272 SU-30 MKI combat aircraft and so on. Agreements have also been reached with Russia for co-production of Multirole Transport Aircraft (MTA) and the Fifth Generation Multirole Perspective Aircraft (initially called Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft) besides acquistion of a large number of tanks and armour. US supplies to India are being put at seven percent, but it has now become India's second-largest supplier, replacing Israel, which has had a major share due to the three Phalcon AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control Systems) aircraft, or eyes in the sky. Some deals for Boeing's C-47 Chinook and AH 64D Apache helicopters, and BAE Systems lightweight M777 howitzers are still pending but should be finalised soon after the elections, sources said. It would not be correct for an outgoing government to conclude deals, particularly as they invariably draw allegations at least from some vested interests. Appropriately, the Government has sought time till July 2014 or so from various suppliers, sources told India Strategic. The Indian Navy's Scorpene submarine deal was closed although a decision should be imminent in the near future for the next generation of modern submarines with Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) which enable them stay underwater for longer. Similarly, deals for other assets, particularly helicopters for the navy, army and IAF should be on the list for closure within this year. As for the MMRCA, sources said that there was no delay from the ministry of defence.

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The state-run HAL is still to conclude its work share details with Dassault International, and details of the agreement between them are not likely to be worked out before 2014-end. After that, once the MoD and the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approve it, the first installment of 15 percent would be due. That could happen in early 2015 - in the current fiscal ending March 2015 or next - and only then the first required financial allocation of 15 per cent would have to be made. "The main payments would be due in the 2015-16 fiscal. ”HAL is the main integrator for the MMRCA project and the company is reportedly looking for more work share than the stipulated 50 percent. The remaining parts would be made in the private sector under Transfer of Technology or in joint ventures by the French consortium that includes Dassault, Safran and Thales. Dassault will supply the initial lot of 18 aircraft and the rest would be progressively assembled by HAL from kits and indigenous manufacture. As for Pakistan, SIPRI observed that China had become its main supplier, accounting for 54 percent of imports while the US was now responsible for 27 percent of its weapon supplies. China, which has become a major player in the international arms market, also supplied Bangladesh 82 percent of its requirements. As for the Gulf States, SIPRI said that arms being imported by them mainly from the US and other western nations have a much higher level of sophistication, with Washington and London selling "advanced, long-range strike systems" and "precision-guided weapons". "The USA, which accounted for 45 percent of arms deliveries to Gulf States, has signed a series of major deals which will maintain its high levels of arms exports to these countries. In 2013, for the first time, the USA allowed the sale of long-range air launched cruise missiles to Gulf states," SI'RI's Senior Researcher on Arms Transfers Programme Pieter Wezeman was quoted as saying. Source: Business Standard, 17 March 2014

Aussie Defence Minister for Maritime Talks in Jakarta Australia's Defence Minister David Johnston will attend a top level conference in Jakarta on building maritime collaboration. Johnston will be accompanied by Defence force chief General David Hurley and Defence Department secretary Dennis Richardson. The event is the fourth annual Jakarta International Defence Dialogue (JIDD) to be held in Jakarta on Wednesday and Thursday. The conference agenda document says maritime security and the complex issues it encompasses require collaboration among states and regional bodies for the peaceful regulation of trade, migration and military forces on the open sea. "This cooperation is not only in the national interest of individual states but can also make the world more secure and protected from threats arising or crossing borders by sea," the Australian Associated Press quotes the document as saying. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will make the opening remarks at an event the Indonesian government says aims to promote intergovernmental cooperation to meet common threats and challenges. Johnston will be a panellist in a conference session on "exploring the Indo-Pacific" which will examine the shift of the global balance of power to this region. Source: Bernama.com, 17 March 2014

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New Pact to Boost PHL's Maritime Security –US Envoy The United States is hoping that the framework agreement that will legalize the rotational presence of its troops in the Philippines will be signed soon. In an interview aired on GMA News' “24 Oras” US Ambassador to the Philippines, Philip Goldberg, said such agreement—currently the subject of negotiations between the two countries—would boost the Philippines' maritime security.

“We want to help the Philippines as a treaty ally as it builds its minimal credible defense, as it builds its ability to do maritime security, maritime domain awareness and build greater capacity in humanitarian assistance, disaster relief,” Goldberg said. Both parties are hoping that the agreement will be signed before US President Barack Obama's scheduled visit to the Philippines in April, the report said.

The negotiations, meanwhile, are being held amid the simmering territorial dispute between the Philippines and China regarding ownership of some parts of the vast South China Sea. Manila took a bold step last year when it initiated an arbitration process under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to try to declare as “illegal” China’s nine-dash claim, which covers nearly the entire resource-rich waters, where some parts are called by the Philippines as West Philippines Sea. China on the other hand has resisted the Philippines’ move to let a UN body intervene in the disputes, saying the Philippines’ case was legally infirm and carried unacceptable allegations.

Goldberg, meanwhile, said the agreement will not result in American bases once again being established in the country. “What's important to remember is that what we're talking about is an increased rotational presence and increased ability to work together under the terms of an agreement that we reach, and that's different than in the past because it doesn't involve bases,” he said in the “24 Oras” report Source: gmanetwork.com, 17 March 2014

Japan, Vietnam Leaders Meet, Focus on Maritime Security Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang held talks Tuesday, focusing on ways to boost bilateral cooperation in ensuring maritime security in light of China's growing maritime activities in regional waters. Abe and Sang are also believed to have discussed regional issues such as North Korea's nuclear program and measures to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation such as infrastructure-building in Vietnam, according to Japanese officials.

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The summit followed a meeting between Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh. Sang is on a four-day visit to Japan through Wednesday. China's robust moves in staking its claim to the Spratly Islands and other territories in the South China Sea have put it at odds with some members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, notably the Philippines and Vietnam. China has also been increasingly pushing its claim over the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Source: Global Post, 18 March 2014

Ayungin Shoal Remains Part of Philippines Even If Troops Withdraw Regardless of China’s demand that the Philippines leave Ayungin Shoal by towing away the grounded BRP Sierra Madre, it will remain part of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), a maritime law expert said. “The presence of the grounded ship [and the] soldiers [on Ayungin] does not affect the status of the waters or seabed,” Jay Batongbacal, Director of the University of the Philippines’ (UP) Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, said in a text message to INQUIRER.net. China recently demanded that the Philippines remove the BRP Sierra Madre, a dilapidated and rusting World War II-era ship that was grounded on Ayungin (Second Thomas Shoal) back in 1999 in response to China’s physical occupation of nearby Mischief Reef in 1995. A small detachment of Marines are stationed on the Sierra Madre to keep watch over the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) that regularly patrol the surrounding waters of the shoal which lies just 105 nautical miles from the coast of Palawan. “The presence of soldiers is for the practical purpose of watching Mischief Reef and surveillance of the area, not to establish a claim,” Batongbacal said. The CCG blocked two civilian vessels contracted by the Philippine Navy to bring fresh troops and supplies to the shoal. China however claimed the Filipino ships were carrying construction materials with the intention of building facilities on the shoal, which China says is illegal. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a press conference in Beijing on Monday that the Philippines had previously made an “unequivocal commitment” to remove the ship but has not fulfilled its promise.“ But what we see now is that the Philippine side rejects to tow away the ship, furthermore, it tries to transport concrete and rebar and other construction materials with a purpose of building facilities on the reef,” Hong said. Sought for comment on China’s demand, Batongbacal said that “removal does not affect the Philippines EEZ jurisdiction. EEZ does not have to be occupied in order for it to pertain to a coastal State.” UNCLOS Maritime Features Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), an international agreement signed and ratified by both Philippines and China, there are three main types of maritime features in the oceans: islands, rocks, and low tide-elevations (LTE).Islands are natural formations of land that remain above water during high tide.

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They are entitled to a 12 nautical mile (22 kilometer) territorial sea where it has full sovereignty and a 200 nm (370 km) EEZ where it has sole right to exploit the resources. Rocks or reefs are maritime features that are mostly below water but have protrusions above water during high tide. It is distinct from islands in that it cannot sustain human habitation or economic life. These are entitled to a 12 nm territorial sea and no EEZ. LTEs is fully submerged rocks and reefs rising from the seabed. These have no maritime entitlements and belong to the country whose continental shelf they are in. “Ayungin is an LTE, it does not generate any maritime zone of its own. [Its] waters are part of [Philippine] EEZ and the seabed is part of [Philippine] continental shelf,” Batongbacal said. Arbitration Proceedings The Philippines has a pending arbitration case before a United Nations court against China for its nine-dash line claim that covers nearly the entire South China Sea including parts of the Philippines western EEZ from Ilocos province in northern Luzon to Palawan in the southwest. Citing historical claims in the region, China has occupied and constructed concrete facilities such as buildings, radar stations, helipads, docks, etc., in at least six maritime features in the Spratly Islands: Cuarteron Reef, Fiery Cross Reef, Gaven Reef, Johnson South Reef, Mischief Reef, and Subi Reef. Philippines, which is set to submit its memorial by March 30, hopes the UN court will declare China’s nine-dash line illegal and uphold the rights of the Philippines to the resource-rich Spratly Islands. Source: Global Nation, 18 March 2014

China Splits Search-And-Rescue Fleet as Hunt for Missing Flight 370 Leads into Vast Indian Ocean China is splitting up its southern search-and-rescue fleet to comb two far-flung sections of the Indian Ocean for the vanished Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. One flotilla of civilian and military ships would head northwest to the Bay of Bengal, while the other would steam south to Sumatra and Christmas Island, PLA Navy spokesman Liang Yang said in a statement on Tuesday. Malaysian authorities said on Sunday that the plane’s last satellite contact – at 8.11am on March 8 – revealed it flew for more than seven hours after disappearing from civilian radar over the South China Sea near the Gulf of Thailand. Two flight corridors are now the focus of the search – one extending from northern Thailand to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and a southern corridor from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean. “There are major changes in our search strategy and plans due to the changing situation. The forces will head in two opposite directions, one northward and the other southward, starting today,” a public relations official at the China Maritime Search and Rescue Centre in Beijing told the South China Morning Post. Four Chinese ships – the Jinggangshan, a 20,000-tonne advanced amphibious dock landing ship; the Yongxingdao, a submarine rescue ship; the Haixun 31, a coastguard patrol ship; and the South China Sea Rescue 115, of the Transport Ministry – would search a 120,000-square-kilometre area in the Bay of Bengal, Xinhua said. They would be joined by three helicopters in the search area west of the Andaman Islands.

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The second flotilla – the Kunlunshan, another amphibious ship; the Haikou, a fast missile destroyer; the Haixun 01, the South China Sea Rescue 101; and a container ship operated by state-owned shipping giant Cosco – would focus on a 180,000-square-kilometre band of sea southwest of Sumatra and Java. It too would be assisted by three helicopters. The supply ship Qiandaohu would also sail to Sumatra and Java to join that group after it resupplies other vessels in Singaporean waters, Xinhua added. China so far has sent 10 ships to take part in the search and rescue mission, including five PLA Navy warships and five civilian and commercial ships. The PLA Daily said the Chinese fleet searching the Gulf of Thailand during the past week was heading to Singapore for regrouping and preparations before sailing to the two new search locations. The five navy ships were replenished in the South China Sea on Monday afternoon, PLA Daily reported yesterday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said yesterday that China had deployed 21 satellites to search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet that was carrying 239 passengers and crew, including 154 Chinese. Source: South China Morning Post, 18 March 2014

International Confidence and Security Building above the Arctic Circle The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe has existed since 1975 and developed the Vienna Document, one of many, which requires participating international States to share information on their military forces, equipment and defense planning to maintain international confidence and trust. One way this happens is through military inspections of training exercises like Cold Response 14. “The inspection is under the auspice of the Vienna Document, which is politically binding on the signatories,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Michael Cohen, an inspection liaison from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Belarusian inspectors requested information for U.S. Marine forces participating in the exercise, to include the activities and composition of various Marine units, including 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment and 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion and inspected the site of an amphibious offload of Marines from a Dutch naval vessel earlier in the morning.

“It invites other countries to come in and observe those [military activities] … the purpose is openness and transparency along with confidence and security building measures,” he added. Vienna Document 2011 contains signatories from more than 50 nations that have adopted the Document on Confidence and Security Building Measures. Agreements like this play a substantial role in a multilateral process initiated by the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe. The process aims to undertake effective and concrete actions to make progress in strengthening the confidence and security of the signatories and in achieving disarmament, so “as to give effect and expression to the duty of the participating States to refrain from the threat or use of force in their mutual relations as well as in their international relations,” according to the Vienna Document. Under an inspection, the inspecting party has the right to travel to an area they’ve identified they want to see to ensure there is no unreported military activity. Observed variances include: equipment used, training being conducted, speaking to participating service members, and unimpeded access of the identified area as long as the inspection does not disrupt training evolutions.

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“It’s a demonstration of good will between the different signatories. The [Vienna Document] is cooperative in nature,” said Cohen. Exchanges of military information can include; verification of compliance with agreed commitments, such as notification of prior military activities, as well as different variants of military cooperation. According to the Vienna Document, participating States will annually exchange information about size, structure, training and equipment of its armed forces as well as related defense policy, doctrines, budgets based on national practice and providing the background for a dialogue among the participating States.

The goals is to reduce the risk of conflict while increasing trust among participating nation states and contribute to greater openness and transparency in the field of military planning and military activities. “For this exercise, the inspection was announced to Norway and they are responsible for escorting them,” said Cohen. “We are here as liaisons for U.S. forces and we are here to assist the Norwegian escort team.” Encouraging regional and bilateral measures that build trust, the Vienna Document contains mechanisms to prevent or decrease tensions and to reduce the risk of unusual military situations that could cause tensions. Participating states undertake approximately 90 inspections and 45 evaluation visits each year, according to the OSCE website.

Source: dvidshub.net, 18 March 2014

Cold Response: NATO Exercises in the Arctic Circle

NATO's Cold Response exercise involves thousands of soldiers from 16 different countries training together in the Arctic Circle. Following the Western withdrawal from Afghanistan, the military alliance is returning to the type of winter warfare drills that were used during the Cold War. This exercise was scheduled before the current tensions in Crimea. Anna Holligan travelled to Bardufoss, in northern Norway, 400km (250 miles) from the Russian border, to find out how the military prepares for possible conflict in a cold environment.

Source: BBC, 19 March 2014

Australia Unwraps National Plan for Maritime Emergency Response

A new National Plan for Maritime Environmental Emergencies has the endorsement of Australian industry and its state and federal governments, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is managing the plan. It lays out cooperative arrangements between governments and industry to respond to maritime pollution and shipping casualty incidents. This plan is an update on one drawn up in 2001. AMSA Chief Executive Graham Peachey said the new plan combines pollution response and the management of maritime casualties for the first time. "Following extensive collaboration with industry, state and territory governments, and emergency services, the new plan is designed to integrate more effectively within Australia’s disaster management arrangements," he said. "AMSA thanks all involved in the formulation of the new National Plan."

The cornerstone of the update as a risk assessment, which brought about a boost in National Plan response equipment stockpiles across the vast country and also the establishment, under contract, of emergency towing capabilities in two new regions.

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"These stockpiles are strategically located in nine ports around the coastline and can be drawn on in the event of an oil spill or a stricken vessel causing pollution in our marine environment," Peachey said. "AMSA invests in a significant training program so people around Australia have the skills to respond to any potential marine pollution. These vessels can be called on to respond to marine pollution or to tow ships causing marine pollution. AMSA's emergency towage vessel in Cairns also patrols and responds to any marine pollution event in the Great Barrier Reef, Torres Strait, and Coral Sea under the National Plan."

Source: eponline.com, 19 March 2014

US Navy to Study for Cheaper Small Warship Senior US Navy leaders have set up a task force to study proposals for a small warship, as ordered by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, and said they would set a new "affordability target" for the ship. Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Jonathan Greenert, and Navy Acquisition Chief Sean Stackley named the members of the new task force and a separate high-level advisory group in a memorandum dated March 13 that was released on Tuesday. They told the groups to report back on possible alternatives, including a modified version of the current Littoral Combat Ship designs built by Lockheed Martin Corp and Australia's Austal, by July 31. "In our efforts to increase the capability and lethality of the small surface combatant force, affordability must remain a critical tenet. That informs and guides our decision," the memo said. It said an affordability target would be established separately and provided to the task force, but gave no details. Source: Business Recorder, 19 March 2014

Jakarta Dialogue Stresses Maritime Peace

The fourth Jakarta International Defense Dialogue (JIDD) opened on Wednesday, aiming to bolster trust and collaboration between nations in the Indo-Pacific region. Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said in his welcoming address that the JIDD was designed as a forum for different groups to come together and discuss security issues in the region. “It is expected that the informal nature of the forum could create a conducive atmosphere that would encourage confidence-building and collaboration in maritime security affairs,” he said. Vice President Boediono in his opening speech said that as a maritime nation, Indonesia realized the importance of the Indo-Pacific region and acknowledged that Indonesia should focus on maritime issues because they affected the country’s politics, security and economics.

“As a country surrounded by vast sea, Indonesia is required to enhance its maritime capabilities and enhance maritime cooperation with countries who prioritize maritime cooperation,” he said. Some 500 delegates, including scholars and military and government officials, from 46 countries are attending the two-day forum, held in conjunction with the anniversary of the Indonesian Defense University. The event, taking the theme “Building Maritime Collaboration for Security and Stability”, consists of five sessions featuring distinguished panelists from different countries in the region, and a defense expo.

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In the first session, titled “Exploring the Indo-Pacific”, Australian Defense Minister David Johnston said that the region was too large for one country alone to create stability that would benefit economic interests. Vice Adm. RK Pattanaik of the Indian Defense Ministry, agreed, adding the Indo-Pacific concept was rooted in maritime cooperation because both threats and humanitarian assistance or disaster relief crossed sea borders. “The success of the Indo-Pacific region is dependent on studying each other’s maritime habits, conducting joint maritime training and also relying on each other’s maritime strength,” he said. Johnston noted, however, that cooperation and dialogue within the region was not without its ups and downs.

“A lesson to be learned is that there have been some hiccups and territorial disputes but there are rules we must abide by,” he said. Relations between Australia and Indonesia have faltered over the last few months over revelations Australian intelligence tapped the phone of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and a number of ministers, and over Australian warships breaching Indonesian waters to send back boat people. In the second session, titled “Managing Contested Water”, representatives from China insisted that historical factors should be considered as it negotiated with its neighbours in resolving overlapping territorial claims, including over maritime borders. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, delineated by the “nine-dotted line” in its map of the region, on historical grounds.

The People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) deputy chief of general staff, Adm. Sun Jianguo, said, however, that China would try to resolve all its border disputes peacefully with a “win-win” solution for all concerned. Sun said that China had border disputes with almost all its neighbours, whether land or maritime, and that conflicts relating to them would be destabilizing for the region as well as for China. “The maritime disputes should be resolved taking into account history as well as international law,” he said, adding that countries should work to resolve these disputes by promoting the larger, common interest of peace. Tensions have been rising in the East China Sea and the South China Sea in recent years with China becoming more assertive in enforcing its territorial claims, bringing it into direct conflict with Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries.

Indonesia, through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is currently trying to negotiate with China for the establishment of a binding code of conduct that should be used in resolving the disputes in the South China Sea. Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, underlined the importance of countries abiding by acceptable norms of behaviour in resolving maritime disputes. While the United States would not take sides in these maritime disputes, it opposed the use of intimidation and force by one party against another, he said.

Source: Jakarta Post, 20 March 2014

Taipei, Manila Poised to Ink Maritime Cooperation Pact

Taiwan and the Philippines are expected to soon sign an agreement on maritime law enforcement cooperation aimed at addressing fishing disputes in the two countries' overlapping waters, officials said Thursday. Both sides are working to sign the agreement before the fishing season begins in April, Foreign Minister David Lin said during a press briefing.

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The agreement is part of efforts to ensure the safety of fishermen operating in waters where the two countries' exclusive economic zones overlap, following the fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman by Philippine Coast Guard personnel last year.

After the May 9 incident, the two sides have held two fishery meetings and a consultation meeting, and have reached consensus on several issues regarding maritime law enforcement cooperation, Lin said. These include no use of force or violence when patrolling fishing grounds, the establishment of a mechanism to inform each other in the event of fishery incidents and the release of detained fishermen and boats as soon as possible, he said. "The agreement will include the consensus," he said. "We hope to hold bilateral fishery talks to sign the agreement as soon as possible."

The text of the agreement has nearly been finalized, with both sides still dealing with some of the pact's wording, said Benjamin Ho, director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, who also attended the briefing. The next round of fishery talks is very likely to take place in Taipei, based on a rotational principle, Ho told reporters. In addition to strengthening bilateral cooperation on maritime law enforcement, Taiwan will seek to advance cooperation with the Philippines in fishery resource management and designate an area in overlapping waters in which fishermen from both countries can operate freely, Ho added.

On May 9, Philippine Coast Guard officers sprayed bullets at Taiwanese fishing boat the Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28 when the boat was operating in waters where the two countries' exclusive economic zones overlap, killing Taiwanese fisherman Hung Shih-cheng, who was aboard the fishing boat. Following the incident, Taiwan insisted that Manila formally apologize for the shooting, punish those responsible, compensate the victim's family and hold bilateral fishery talks to prevent the occurrence of similar incidents in the future. The Philippine Department of Justice announced earlier this week that it will file homicide charges against the eight coast guard officers.

Lin said the filing of the homicide charges means that the Philippine government has met the four demands set by Taiwan. Last August, Amadeo Perez Jr., chairman of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO), visited Hung's family in Pingtung County to deliver a letter of apology on behalf of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III. The Philippine government also reached an agreement with the family on a compensation package. MECO is the Philippine institution responsible for handling relations with Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties.

Source: Focus Taiwan, 20 March 2014

Operation Copper Now Only with SA and Mozambique

Operation Copper, the mission to provide maritime security and prevent piracy in the Mozambique Channel, is now a bilateral operation between South Africa and Mozambique after Tanzania withdrew. According to Lieutenant Colonel Piet Paxton of the SANDF's Joint Operations Division, Tanzania withdrew from the operation some 18 months ago. During the height of piracy in 2011, Somali pirates ventured far south and began attacking vessels in the waters between Africa and Madagascar. In December 2010 two vessels were attacked off Mozambique and a Mozambique-flagged fishing vessel was hijacked.

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These incidents prompted South Africa in 2011 to establish Operation Copper to patrol the Mozambique Channel and in early 2012 sign a memorandum of understanding with Southern African Development community (SADC) members Mozambique and Tanzania to maintain the anti-piracy watch and. Since then, frigates, offshore patrol vessels and maritime surveillance aircraft have been deployed to Mozambican waters. The Navy frigate SAS Spioenkop with a Super Lynx helicopter is currently on station in the Mozambique Channel while a C-47TP maritime surveillance aircraft is based in Pemba. At the moment there are around 220 SANDF personnel on land and at sea as part of Copper, with the majority aboard the frigate. The frigate will be rotated sometime next month as it is due to depart for Simons Town on March 31.

Mozambique’s contribution to Operation Copper includes personnel stationed on the frigates or strike craft – usually a dozen personnel on the frigate and less than half a dozen aboard the strike craft. Paxton said that Operation Copper has been very successful with no piracy incidents in the last three years that the South African Navy has been patrolling the region. If pirates get their foot in the door, then the busy Cape sea lane will be threatened. He said that South Africa will continue with Copper, until president and commander-in-chief Jacob Zuma decides that it is time to withdraw.

Speaking to the media, defence minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said the reduction in piracy, “is as a result of our presence in the Mozambique Channel. Now they know they can’t go down that far,” she said. “The presence of the SANDF serves as a deterrent…if we go, the pirates may come back.” SA Navy Fleet media liaison officer, Commander Adrian Dutton, said all four frigates – SAS Amatola, SAs Isandlwana, SAS Mendi and SAS Spioenkop – as well as the Navy’s replenishment vessel, SAS Drakensberg, and two of it its offshore patrol vessels (OPVs), SAS Galeshewe and SAS Isaac Dyobha, have done time on station in the Mozambique Channel.

These platforms have been supported by elements of the SA Air Force, notably a 35 Squadron C-47TP based at Pemba in Mozambique, as well as Oryx helicopters from the Durban, Hoedspruit and Zwartkop air force bases. Drakensberg is the only SA Navy vessel to have been involved in a pirate incident when she was requested to take up a stopper position by the European Union Naval Force to prevent a suspected pirate ship from escaping EU pursuit in April 2012. For the 2013/14 period, some R585 million was allocated for anti-piracy operations as part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Maritime Security Strategy. Operation Copper cost R150 million in 2011 and 2012, according to a written parliamentary reply.

Note: After this story was published, Joy Peter, the defence minister's spokesperson, said the agreement between Mozambique, Tanzania and South Africa was still in place.

Source: Defence Web, 20 March 2014

Ghana's Waters May Just Be the Next Target for Pirates - Security Expert

Ghana's waters along the coast of West Africa, may just be the next target for pirate attacks, the head of the Paramount Group, the largest privately owned defence company in Africa has said. "If one looks at the piracy hotspot map, it does speak a story that leads to the fact that Ghanaian waters would surely be the next place they will come to."

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James Fisher told Myjoyonline.com at the sidelines of the maiden Coastal and Maritime Surveillance conference currently underway in Accra. He said given the current state of attacks along the coast of the sub-region, African governments cannot afford not to invest in equipment that will fight piracy.

He said there is real value in protecting the African waters notwithstanding the enormous financial cost to the countries. Speaking to Myjoyonline.com, the Director, Naval Administration Captain Issah Yakubu said the Ghana Navy with the help of other agencies have managed to protect Ghana's waters. He however revealed that there were over 50 incidents of hijacking of ships on the West African waters in 2013 alone. Even though Ghana's waters were spared the piracy activities, Captain Yakubu maintained there is the need for improved surveillance across the Gulf of Guinea. "The focus of piracy used to be in the Indian ocean, specifically along the Somali Coast. But in recent years the focus is shifting to the West African waters, the area we call the Gulf of Guinea.

"Last year alone there were over 50 incidents of ships just being hijacked, taken hostage, their cargo stolen, the crew molested sometimes even killed. Fortunately we (Ghana) haven't suffered any of these insecurities. But then we are not complacent." The three-day conference which is expected to end Thursday, has brought together chiefs of Navy and Air force across Africa, including global maritime experts to deliberate on the issue of maritime security along the Gulf of Guinea. Apart from piracy, Captain Yakubu said the security chiefs also have an eye on drug trafficking and cited a recent arrest of a ship carrying 400 kg of cocaine from South America in Ghana's waters.

He also mentioned illegal fishing activities, most of which are carried out by foreign vessels and the Navy's preparedness to deal with some of these infractions. According to him, the Navy has acquired among other equipment, the Vessel Traffic Management and Information System which is helping to track all ships in the country's waters. He said there has also been increased collaboration between security agencies in the country as well as inter-governmental collaboration to fight crimes on the West African coast.

Source: Ghanaweb.com, 20 March 2014

Kenya Pushes for Joint War on Indian Ocean Pirates

Kenya is pushing for a joint anti-piracy surveillance by Indian Ocean countries to lower the cost burden on individual states and safeguard key economic sectors like fishing and shipping. Transport secretary Michael Kamau said Wednesday that users of the route through the coast of Somalia remained vulnerable to piracy despite a sharp drop in the number of incidents reported since last year. “We must come together as a region to bear the burden of anti-piracy surveillance and deterrence costs in addition to the costs of combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing,” he said in a speech read by his Mining counterpart, Najib Balala, at a regional conference in Nairobi.

Kenya has been at the forefront in combating piracy in Somalia. In 2011 the country launched a military incursion into Somalia following a series of kidnapping by Al-Shabaab militants within its territory. It later re-emerged as part of the UN backed African Union Mission. The incursion by the Kenya Defence Forces has, however, proved a nightmare in terms of the budget. The Treasury disclosed that as at November 2013 Kenya’s incursion into Somalia had cost more than Sh26 billion whose reimbursement Nairobi is urgently seeking to ease its budgetary constraints.

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It is not clear if the money has fully been reimbursed by the UN. Mr Kamau said the piracy on the Gulf of Aden had seriously affected trade in the region and urged regional countries to help eradicate the menace.

“Our fishing industry, the second pillar of our economy, was almost brought to a standstill with far reaching implications for our way of life, affecting as it did from artisanal to industrial fisheries and the potential development of this sector,” he said. Apart from the onshore military incursion, a multinational deployment of naval forces around the Gulf of Aden has also helped lower the number of piracy attacks in the past two years. Navies have stepped up pre-emptive action against pirates, including strikes on their bases on the Somali coast. Statistics showed that the number of attacks by Somali pirates dropped sharply in 2013. There were 176 confirmed piracy attacks in the region in 2011 and 36 in 2012, but this fell to just seven attacks in 2013 and no ships in that year were successfully seized. A recent report by the World Bank showed since the first attack in 2005, pirates have netted between $315 million and $385 million in ransom paid from the 149 ships seized so far.

Source: rrtsiasea.com, 20 March 2014

Most Imminent Threat to African Trade Comes From the Sea…Piracy

Africa’s largest privately owned defence and aerospace business, Paramount Group has called for African solution for maritime insecurity across West Africa countries. According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Paramount Naval System, James Fisher, through regional in-country integration and strong Africa shipbuilding industry, West Africa can address the safety of its shores and support economy growth. He however singled out Ghana as the leading way to bolster its naval capabilities to benefit the West Africa countries. The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) say piracy, including illegal fishing, off the West African coastline has amplified, costing the shipping and offshore industry more than $1 billion per year. This has led to an immediate need for African navies to join forces and restructure their strategies to include modernization and development of multi-purpose vessels for high risk zones.

Speaking at the inaugural Maritime and Surveillance Conference in Accra, Mr. Fisher however said “bearing in mind that 90% of trade in Africa is seaborne; the most imminent threat comes from the sea in the form of piracy. As a result, we need to establish closer regional cooperation including sharing of intelligence and streamlining operations”. He added that, “Whiles mush emphasis is placed on the necessity to protect shores, there is also a need to ensure the navy is adequately equipped at carry out other key roles including surveillance and patrol, disaster and humanitarian relief operation, monitoring of fishing activities and assisting civil authorities such as the Ghana police and port and harbour authority effort. Here, collaboration within each country and its various departments is essential”

Following Paramount Group’s recent acquisition of Nautic Africa and its recent launch of Paramount Nava Systems, the business is set to double its workforce by 2015 and deliver the ultimate vessel in the most cost effective manner. This according James Fisher can serve as a the driver long term economic development, boosting industry, creating thousands of jobs and bring million dollars of foreign investment which will assist West Africa fast track its effort to meet the millennium development goal.

Source: peacefmonline.com, 20 March 2014

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China's Request for Entering Indian Waters Turned Down

After objections raised by the defence forces, India today rejected China's request for permission to allow its four warships to enter Indian maritime zone to search for the missing Malaysian airliner. China, whose 150 nationals are on board the aircraft, had yesterday sent a formal request to India to allow their warships including a salvage vessel and two frigates to enter Indian waters in the Andaman Sea to locate the plane. The request was politely declined and the Chinese Navy was told that Indian Navy and the Air Force were already scanning the area and there was no need for anybody else to search the area, sources told PTI.

The defence forces had raised objections over the entry of Chinese warships into the Indian waters and that too in an area in Bay of Bengal where India's military assets are mainly to guard against China and these could get exposed if the Chinese warships are allowed in, they said. Sources said the Chinese People's Liberation Army's Navy (PLAN) had justified its presence in the Indian Ocean Region in the name of anti-piracy patrol and allowing it to station itself in the Andaman Sea for search operations would not have been prudent. Meanwhile, India has deployed long-range maritime surveillance aircraft including the P-8I maritime surveillance aircraft and the C-130J Super Hercules aircraft for the search operations in the new area south of Indonesia.

These two aircraft are capable of undertaking long-range sorties and refuelling themselves at designated locations as the Malaysian authorities have requested India and other countries to search in areas 5,000 km south of Jakarta in the Indian Ocean Region. India has deployed warships and maritime surveillance aircraft to locate the missing airliner with 239 passengers on board. The assets deployed for the search operations include INS Saryu, INS Kumbhir and INS Kesari from the Navy and ICGS Kanaklata Barua and ICGS Bhikaji Cama. The Navy had deployed two of its P-8I maritime surveillance aircraft from INS Rajali in Tamil Nadu for locating the missing plane along with its Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft. The IAF has also pressed into action its C-130J Super Hercules Special Operations aircraft fitted with modern surveillance capabilities to find the plane.

Source: NDTV, 20 March 2014

China's MSR Plan Throws up Positive Opportunities: Raja Mohan

China's proposed Maritime Silk Road (MSR), aimed at improving trade among Asian nations via sea, could throw up positive opportunities for India, a leading Indian strategic analyst has said. C Raja Mohan said the MSR initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping to revive erstwhile Asian trade routes could open door for significant expansion of maritime engagement and cooperation. He was speaking at the launch of the Chinese edition of his book 'Samudra Manthan' at a get-together at the Indian Embassy here yesterday. The book focuses on Sino-Indian rivalry in Indian as well as Pacific oceans. China has formally invited India to join the MSR initiative announced by Xi last year with countries of Southeast Asia. China wants to pursue twin initiatives to revive the ancient Silk Road connecting China, Central Asian, East Asia with Europe and the MSR, according to Chinese officials.

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Mohan, who heads the strategic programme of the Observer Research Foundation and senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the focus in Asia is shifting from land to sea in view of the rise of China and India. He said China's dependence on the Indian Ocean region continues to grow. It is dependent on energy imports from the Gulf and resources from Africa, and trade with Europe. "You cannot build a great wall against Chinese maritime presence," he said adding that the important question is how to deal with it. Mohan said though China was instrumental in developing ports in Sri Lanka and in Pakistan, it is, however, some distance away from establishing military bases in the Indian Ocean region. Allaying Chinese concerns over Indo-Japan ties, Mohan said as close ties between China and Pakistan do not define India-China relationship proximity between New Delhi and Tokyo should not concern Beijing.

Ma Jiali, a Chinese academic and strategic analyst, played down the significance of Chinese presence in the Indian ocean saying their only purpose is for security of energy supplies. The book will provide an opportunity for Chinese people to understand political and diplomatic ideas of India and contribute to the maritime cooperation between the two countries, said its publishers.

Source: Business Standard, 22 March 2012

US Forces Hand Over Seized Oil Tanker to Libya

The U.S. Navy handed over to Libyan authorities on Saturday an oil tanker carrying crude that had been loaded at a port controlled by armed rebels in defiance of Tripoli's government. The Morning Glory tanker was due to arrive later on Saturday at Libya's government-controlled Zawiya port after being seized by U.S. commandos and escorted back through international waters by the U.S. Navy, Libyan officials said. Hours before the handover, at least 16 people were wounded when Libyan rebels occupying three eastern oil ports clashed with troops and attacked an army base, where pro-government forces had been preparing to break the rebel blockade.

Anti-aircraft gunfire and explosions were heard overnight and after dawn on Saturday in Ajdabiya, the hometown of rebel leader Ibrahim Jathran, whose fighters seized the ports last summer to demand a greater share in Libya's oil resources. The struggle for control of Libya's vital petroleum resources is one of the key challenges facing the weak central government, which has still failed to secure the North African country three years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. Brigades of former anti-Gaddafi rebels and militias refuse to disarm and often use armed force or control of oil facilities to make demands on a state whose army is still in training.

U.S. special forces boarded and seized the Morning Glory tanker last Sunday off Cyprus, days after it left Libya with a cargo of crude from one port, Es Sider, occupied by Jathran's men who had vowed to export oil themselves to resist Tripoli. "The handover took place in international waters off the coast of Libya, and the Government of Libya and its security forces are now in control of the vessel," the U.S. embassy said in a statement. Once the Morning Glory docks, crude from the tanker will be fed into Zawiya refinery, which has been forced to lower its production because of a protest at another oil facility, the El Sharara oilfield, officials at Zawiya port said. Zawiya port is 55 km (34 miles) west of the capital Tripoli.

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The Tripoli government gave Jathran a two-week deadline on March 12 to end his port blockade or face a military assault, though analysts say Libya's nascent armed forces may struggle to carry out that threat. Jathran's self-declared Cyrenaica government is demanding more autonomy for his eastern region. Attempts to broker a deal between the rebels and Tripoli have so far failed. LANA state news agency said tribal community leaders helped stop the fighting earlier on Saturday between the rebels and Libyan soldiers. But the agency reported 16 people were wounded.

Splits, Rivalries

After months of threats, Jathran's federalist gunmen managed to load crude onto the Morning Glory tanker. The ship left port and escaped Libya's navy, embarrassing Tripoli's government and prompting parliament to sack Prime Minister Ali Zeidan. The seizure of the tanker in international waters was a rare boost for the government, which has struggled to end a standoff that has cost the state more than $7 billion in lost revenue. The three rebel-held ports account for around 700,000 barrels per day of Libya's oil export capacity, or around half of its total petroleum shipments. The town where Saturday's battle broke out, Ajdabiya, is divided between Jathran supporters and those who fear his oil blockade will lead to the collapse of the state.

But any major assault on the three ports may bolster support for Jathran's cause for a federalist state. Tripoli's government is also stymied by infighting among Islamists, secular parties and tribes that has delayed Libya's transition to democracy since the fall of Gaddafi, whose one-man rule left few state institutions. Western governments, which backed NATO's air strikes to help the 2011 anti-Gaddafi revolt, are training Libya's armed forces and are pressing the factions to reach a political settlement.

Source: Reuters, 22 March 2014

China to Have Nuclear Missiles on Subs Soon: US Admiral

China for the first time will likely have subs equipped with long-range nuclear missiles later this year, part of an increasingly potent submarine fleet, a top US officer said Tuesday, The head of US Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Locklear, said the latest class of Chinese subs would be armed with a new ballistic missile with an estimated range of 4,000 nautical miles (7,500 kilometres). "This will give China its first credible sea-based nuclear deterrent, probably before the end of 2014," Locklear told the Senate Armed Services Committee. Locklear was referring to the production of China's JIN-class nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine and the new JL-2 missile on board the vessel. "China's advance in submarine capabilities is significant. They possess a large and increasingly capable submarine force," the admiral said.

In October, Chinese state media for the first time showed images of the country's nuclear-powered submarines, touting it as a "credible second-strike nuclear capability." Locklear said China's submarine modernization effort was impressive. "I think they'll have in the next decade or so a fairly well modernized force of probably 60 to 70 submarines which is a lot of submarines for a regional power," he said. China now has five nuclear attack submarines, four nuclear ballistic missile submarines, and 53 diesel attack submarines, according to Jess Karotkin of the Office of Naval Intelligence.

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China's production of submarines has moved at a quick annual pace. Between 1995 and 2012, Beijing produced 2.9 submarines a year, according to the Congressional Research Service. Locklear, repeating the Pentagon's view of China's military profile, said Beijing is investing in new weapons and naval power in part "to deny US access to the Western Pacific during a time of crisis or conflict and to provide the means by which China can bolster its broad maritime claims in the region." He added that Chinese military operations were "expanding in size, complexity, duration and geographic location."

Source: Global Post, 26 March 2014

Japan, U.S. to Conduct Space-Based Maritime Surveillance Exercise

Japan and the United States will conduct a space-based maritime surveillance simulation exercise on Thursday and Friday in Tokyo, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. Bringing together officials of relevant agencies from the two countries, the exercise will be the first of its kind, a ministry official said. It is part of bilateral space cooperation. The official said the exercise does not target maritime activities of a specific country. But a source familiar with Japan-U.S. relations said the exercise apparently takes into account rising activity of Chinese patrol ships around the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea and in the South China Sea where Beijing is locked in territorial disputes with neighbouring countries.

Along with monitoring movements of Chinese vessels, the two governments are considering using the envisaged surveillance system to keep track of North Korean ships, crack down on smuggling and illegal fishing, and carry out rescue operations in the event of maritime accidents, according to the source in Washington. In the exercise, the two governments are seeking to ensure they share data obtained by satellites each country operates and integrate information on signals from vessels, so as to upgrade their intelligence analysis from a broader pool of data, it said.

The exercise will involve officials of Japan's National Security Council, the Defence Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, the Japan Coast Guard and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Officials of the U.S. Strategic Command, the Defence Department and the Department of Homeland Security will take part, according to the source. In a so-called "two-plus-two" meeting in October last year, the foreign and defence ministers of Japan and the United States "expressed their desire to improve maritime domain awareness by leveraging satellite capabilities and look forward to future whole-of-government exercises and dialogues" on space cooperation.

Source: Global Post, 26 March 2014

Qatar’s Maritime Defence Vital: Official

Given Qatar’s huge oil and gas reserves and its reliance on sea trade, maritime defence is of paramount importance to the country, says a high-ranking military official. “Our resources are based on oil and gas production, mostly on the sea and they are being exported all over the world through the sea. This explains why maritime defence is very important to us,” said Staff Brigadier (Sea) Tariq Al Obaidli, Assistant Director, National Security Shield Project.

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He was one of the speakers at the Middle East Naval Commanders Conference (MENC) yesterday as part of the fourth Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX 2014) at Qatar National Convention Centre. The total area of Qatar’s sea waters is about 35,000sqkm, three times its land area, “which means we depend more on the sea than on land,” he said. The instability in the Arab world and Qatar’s hosting of global events, including the Men’s Handball World Championship 2015 and World Cup 2022, are among other reasons why the country is keen to protect its land and sea, he added.

Maritime defence challenges, he said, are varied and include terrorist acts in the sea, destruction of pipelines, drug trafficking, piracy, illegal fishing and oil and gas leakage, among others. To ensure maritime security, he said latest planes and helicopters and the most advanced ships and communication tools as well as good coordination with air defence are necessary. An excellent human capital is also needed, “students with know-how and military officers with high spirits.” He also outlined Qatar’s National Security Shield Project, its nature and objectives.

“The objective is to protect the borders of Qatar by founding a unit with high capability that can protect the land and sea. This project relies on the use of latest technology that helps military forces execute operations as quickly as possible,” he explained. Qatar Emiri Naval Forces Commander, Major General Mohammed Nasser Al Mohannadi, opened the conference, stressing its import role in serving as a platform to find solutions facing new emerging threats to naval security. Meanwhile, two agreements were signed at DIMDEX 2014 at the centre. Further expanding business relations between Qatar and Turkey, Deputy of Director Logistics Department, Brig. Abdullah Saad Al Kharji, representing the Interior Ministry, and Kerim Kalafatoglu, Chairman and Executive Director for ARES Shipyard, signed a MoU to deliver 17 new fast patrol boats within 56 months to Qatar Coast Guard Services. ARES is a specialist composite boat yard, based in Turkey’s free trade zone.

The National Security Shield (NSS) and Defence Services Marketing Council (DSMC) signed an agreement to hold the annual Qatar Maritime Security – Maritime Reconnaissance and Surveillance Conference this October under the theme ‘Maritime Domain Awareness, The Steps to Maritime Security’. The agreement was signed by Staff Brig. (Pilot) Mohammed A Al Mannai, Director, Qatar National Security Shield Project, and Matthew Cochran, Chairman, Defence Services Marketing Council.

Source: The Peninsula, 27 March 2014

Overseas Bases Would Help PLA With 'Rescue Ops,' Says Global Times

After the Malaysian government declared on March 25 that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 had crashed into the southern Indian Ocean, China's state-run Global Times had suggested the Chinese government should consider establishing overseas bases for future "rescue operations" in the region. The paper stated that the nation's relationship with other countries had affected the results of the search operation. India rejected China's request to send four warships into the region between the Andaman Sea and the Nicobar archipelago to conduct search and rescue operations, for example.

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The mistrust harboured by several countries in the region towards China delayed the search efforts of the PLA Navy, according to the paper. Even though some nations were willing to cooperate with China, rescue efforts were still slowed down because these nations did not have the technology they needed to carry out the operation, the paper said. For this reason, the commentary suggested China establish overseas bases in the South China Sea or Indian Ocean so the PLA can respond to similar incidents more rapidly in the future.

The commentary said that countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Yemen and Sudan which have close ties with China would be the best choice to locate an overseas PLA base which will extend Beijing's influence from the South China Sea to Africa. While this may rattle Western nations concerned about China's military expansion, the Global Times said that with or without an overseas base, this would still be the case.

Source: Want China Times, 27 March 2014

India, US Officials Meet to Discuss Maritime Security, Trade

Top diplomats and military leaders from India and the United States are meeting here to discuss maritime security and regional trade as part of their East Asia consultations, a US official has said. The sixth session of the US India East Asia Consultations, among other things would discuss a variety of issues including maritime security, expanding regional trade opportunities, and increasing cooperation in multilateral fora, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Nisha Desai Biswal, said on the eve of the meeting.

"As the United States continues to implement our strategic rebalance to Asia we will work with India to address both the challenges and the opportunities across the Indo Pacific region," Biswal said. The India side would be represented by Indian Ambassador to the US, S Jaishankar, Joint Secretary for East Asia Gautam Bambawale, and Joint Secretary for the Americas Vikram Doraiswami.

The US Pacific Command Commander Admiral Samuel J Locklear, along with Biswal and Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Daniel Russel, would represent the American side. "This dialogue is an opportunity for the United States and India to share views on regional priorities and identify areas for cooperation in our engagement with regional and multilateral institutions," the State Department said in a statement.

Source: ZeeNews, 28 March 2014

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: U.S. Navy Ping Detector Set to be taken to Search Area A U.S. Navy device designed to detect a plane's black box underwater was ready to be taken Monday to the remote scene where search teams are racing to find the flight data recorders from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is coordinating search efforts in the vast Indian Ocean, said the Australian warship Ocean Shield was to depart from Perth on Monday morning with a black box detector and an autonomous underwater device that searches for debris underwater.

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The ship was expected to take three or four days to reach the search area, which is roughly the size of Poland and located 1,150 miles west of Australia. And time is fast running out. Every plane's black box is fitted with a low-frequency acoustic beacon that, when activated after a crash, emits a unique, continuous "ping" for searchers to detect. The beacon has a battery life of roughly 30 days. A host of environmental factors, from depth and temperature of the water to the relative damage done to the equipment, can affect both the life of the battery and the ease of the search. That gives the people searching for Flight 370 a little more than a week, perhaps 10 days at most, to not just pinpoint the place where a 240-foot plane may have gone down in a roughly 200,000-square-mile area, but also find it on the ocean floor Flight 370 vanished on March 8 while en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. Malaysian officials say they believed the Boeing 777 crashed into the Indian Ocean and that all 239 people on board perished. Although crews have spotted many pieces of debris in the ocean, authorities have not been able to confirm that any of it came from Flight 370.The frequency acoustic beacon has a range of up to 12,000 feet, or 2.2 miles or so, and the Ocean Shield will be towing a ping locator with the capability to do search and recovery operations down to a depth of 20,000 feet. The ship's captain, Nicholas Woods, said the Ocean Shield can "stay out there for an extended period. It means we will be on location for as long as it takes to achieve a positive outcome." Data on Flight 370's black boxes may help investigators solve what has become one of aviation's big mysteries - what happened to Flight 370, with speculation ranging from equipment failure and a botched hijacking to terrorism or an act by one of the pilots. Nine aircraft and eight ships searching the waters off western Australia on Sunday found only "fishing equipment and other flotsam" not connected to the Malaysia Airlines plane, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said. But at least four orange objects that were more than 6 feet in size were seen by the crew of an Australian P3 Orion search plane, said the pilot, Flight Lt. Russell Adams, after returning to base. "I must stress that we can't confirm the origin of these objects," he said, adding that images of the items have yet to be verified, and a GPS buoy was dropped and ships must still investigate. Adams said it was "the most visibility we had of any objects in the water and gave us the most promising leads. Ten planes and 10 ships were taking part in Monday's search, the Australian maritime agency said, with some parts of the mammoth search zone expected to experience low clouds and rain - similar to Sunday's weather. "We have got to have conclusive visual evidence of debris," said Cmdr. William Marks, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet, appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation." ''That is the most important thing. So we have to keep flying these missions out of Perth." Abbott said a former Australian defense chief, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, will head a new center in Perth for search and recovery operations, coordinating the international effort. For a full week, searchers relied on satellite imagery from various countries as they tried to find the plane in a zone to the south of the current area. They abruptly shifted the site Friday after authorities concluded the plane could not have traveled as far as they had thought based on its estimated speed and fuel consumption.

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That prompted the change in the search for the plane's likely entry point into the sea and the possible location of its flight recorders, or "black boxes," which should contain clues to what caused the aircraft to fly so far off-course. The search area is so big that investigators are first hoping to find floating debris so they could set a smaller zone using sophisticated analysis to determine a location from where the pieces drifted. Even if they do that, recovering the flight recorders could be complicated. Despite the huge area, one advantage is the seabed of the search zone is generally flat, with the exception of a steep slope and a deep trench near its southern end. The area is dominated by a muddy ocean floor known as Broken Ridge, which is actually a plateau where depths range from as shallow as about 2,625 feet to about 9,843 feet. At the edge of the plateau closest to Antarctica is the Diamantina trench, which has been found to be as deep as 19,000 feet within the confines of the search zone, although it could be deeper in places that have not been measured. Matthews said the Navy's ping locator has the "capability to do search-and-recovery operations down to a depth of 20,000 feet." If searchers don't get a location on the pinger, Marks said, "we then have to very slowly use sonar to get an image, a digital image of the bottom of the ocean. And that is incredibly - a long process to go through. But it is possible." Information on the flight data and cockpit voice recorders may help investigators resolve what happened on Flight 370. Speculation includes equipment failure, a botched hijacking, terrorism or an act by one of the pilots. Capt. Mark Matthews, who is in charge of U.S. Navy salvage operations, said Matthews said the Navy's ping locator has the "capability to do search-and-recovery operations down to a depth of 20,000 feet."If searchers don't get a location on the pinger, Matthews said, "we then have to very slowly use sonar to get an image, a digital image of the bottom of the ocean. And that is incredibly - a long process to go through. But it is possible." He warned, however, that the search could go on for years. "Right now, the search area is basically the size of the Indian Ocean, which would take an untenable amount of time to search," he told Reuters news agency. Faced with growing anger from relatives of Flight 370's mostly Chinese passengers, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the search would go on for as long as it takes. Source: cbsnews.com, 30 March 2014

Philippine Ship Dodges China Blockade The Philippine government vessel made a dash for shallow waters around the disputed reef in the South China Sea, evading two Chinese coastguard ships trying to block its path to deliver food, water and fresh troops to a military outpost on the shoal. The cat-and-mouse encounter on Saturday, witnessed by Reuters and other media invited on-board the Philippine ship, offered a rare glimpse into the tensions playing out routinely in waters that are one of the region's biggest flashpoints. It's also a reminder of how assertive China has become in pressing its claims to disputed territory far from its mainland.

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"If we didn't change direction, if we didn't change course, then we would have collided with them," Ferdinand Gato, captain of the Philippine vessel, a civilian craft, told Reuters after his boat had anchored on the Second Thomas Shoal under a hot sun. The outpost is a huge, rusting World War Two transport vessel that the Philippine navy intentionally ran aground in 1999 to mark its claim to the reef. There, around eight Filipino soldiers live for three months at a time in harsh conditions on a reef that Manila says is within its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). China, which claims 90 percent of the South China Sea, says the shoal is part of its territory. Things were going smoothly for the Philippine ship until it was spotted by a Chinese coastguard ship about an hour away from the Second Thomas Shoal. The Chinese boat picked up speed to come near the left of the white Philippine ship, honking its horn at least three times. The Chinese ship slowed down after a few minutes, but then a bigger coastguard vessel emerged, moving fast to cut the path of the Philippine boat. The Chinese sent a radio message to the Filipinos, saying they were entering Chinese territory. "We order you to stop immediately, stop all illegal activities and leave," said the radio message, delivered in English. Gato replied that his mission was to deliver provisions to Philippine troops stationed in the area. Philippine troops wearing civilian clothes and journalists then flashed "V" for the peace sign at the Chinese. WATCHED FROM THE SKY Instead of stopping or reversing, the Philippine vessel picked up speed and eventually maneuvered away from the Chinese, entering waters that were too shallow for the bigger coastguard ships. A U.S. navy plane, a Philippine military aircraft and a Chinese plane, all visible from their markings, flew above the ships at different intervals. Filipino troops on the civilian vessel clapped as they came within a few metres of the marooned transport ship, the BRP Sierra Madre. Supplies of food and water were then hauled up to troops onboard. Later, the eight soldiers due to be relieved put on military fatigues for a daily ceremony to lower the Philippine flag at dusk. They had been scheduled to go home three weeks ago but Chinese ships blocked two Philippine supply vessels from reaching them on March 9, a move protested by Manila and which the United States described as "provocative". The Philippines resorted to air dropping food and water instead. "What we want to accomplish is for this area to remain ours. This is the one thing that we are guarding here," said sergeant Jerry Fuentes, a Philippine marine set to deploy on the BRP Sierra Madre. China's Foreign Ministry said late on Saturday that the action by the Philippines would not change the reality of China's sovereignty over the shoal, which Beijing calls Ren'ai reef. "China will never tolerate the Philippines' occupation of the Ren'ai reef in any form," it said. China displays its claims to the South China Sea on official maps with a so-called nine-dash line that stretches deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia. The ships of its recently unified coastguard are a fixture around the disputed waters. While they don't have the weaponry of military vessels, thus reducing the risk a confrontation could get out of control, they still represent a potent show of sovereignty. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims to parts of the potentially energy-rich waters.

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"Regardless of how the Philippines packages its lawsuit, the direct cause of the dispute between China and the Philippines is the Philippines' illegal occupation of part of the islands in the South China Sea," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement. The U.S. State Department said all countries should respect the right of any state to use dispute resolution mechanisms under the Convention on the Law of the Sea. "Regardless of the results of this arbitration proceeding, we call on all parties to refrain from taking unilateral actions that are escalatory and destabilising," spokeswoman Marie Harf said. Philippines Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario told a news conference in Manila on Sunday that Manila does not expect the tribunal to reach a decision before the end of 2015. "The question of, what if the Philippines gets a favourable ruling? The Philippines has always taken the position that a favourable ruling is a ruling that China, as a member of the community of nations, is bound legally to accept and to implement," government lawyer Francis Jardaleza said. Source: Maritime Executive, 30 March 2014

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S. Korea's Top Two Shipping Lines Weigh Down Parent Biz Groups

Maritime Sector to See Continued Growth

CNOOC in Deepwater South China Sea Breakthrough

Shipping Industry can Benefit from Hydrocarbons Exploitation

EU Restricts Seafood Trade from Illegal Fishing Nations

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S. Korea's Top Two Shipping Lines Weigh Down Parent biz Groups South Korea's two largest shipping lines that have been struggling to generate profit for years have started to weigh down their parent business groups, industry sources said Tuesday. Hanjin Shipping Co. and Hyundai Merchant Marines (HMM), hard hit by adverse market conditions, are trying to deal with chronic losses and a drop in their credit ratings but are not showing signs of improving anytime soon, industry watchers say. Both Hanjin and Hyundai groups, which control these shipping companies, announced extensive self-help programs late last year, but have not been able to fully stabilize the situation with the injection of cash seen as stop-gap measures. The poor showing by the two companies has even started to raise concerns about the liquidity flow of the parent conglomerates, which can exert a negative influence on the business community as a whole. Hanjin, who has Korean Air Lines Co. under its wings, already injected 250 billion won (US$234 million) into the struggling shipping line last year. Korean Air engaged in a 400 billion won capital increase through a third-party allocation that placed the shipping line as its subsidiary. Hyundai Group announced last year that it will generate 3.3 trillion won in fresh cash to cope with the conglomerate's debt and try to deal with the mounting deficits of its shipping affiliate. The group pledged to sell off its assets, three financial firms and stock holdings to come up with the cash. Market watchers said that in the case of Hanjin Shipping, the company is currently trying to stay afloat in the face of a severe liquidity crunch. South Korea's No. 1 Shipping and Logistics Company reported a net loss of 712 billion won in 2013. This marks the third year in a row that the company posted annual losses. In addition, the debt to equity ratio that stood at 389.7 percent in 2011 shot up to 1,444.7 percent last year, affecting its credit rating. The company's credit rating has fallen to BBB-minus, which is just above the speculative grade. Hanjin shipping's troubles can be seen in the rejection of the financial report that was submitted to regulatory bodies by the parent group for the 2013 fiscal year. "Hanjin group's support so far seems to have dealt with the short-term liquidity crunch, but if the shipping line fails to turn a profit again this year, such a development can cause more troubles," a market analyst said. Many industry experts have said that while the global economy may be able to grow at a brisker pace this year, there is no guarantee that the shipping business will pick up. In the case of HMM, which posted three straight years of losses, the shipping line's troubles have effectively pushed down the credit rating of other affiliates in the group, such as Hyundai Elevator Co. and Hyundai Logistics Co., to the speculative BB-plus grade. The drop in the credit rating for the flagship companies of Hyundai Group is linked to the cross-shareholding arrangement that links HMM, Hyundai Elevator and Hyundai Logistics together. "The flow of money within the group closely associated with the cross-shareholding arrangement is posing a financial risk to other affiliates by the shipping line," an analyst from Korea Investors Service said. The source said both Hyundai Elevator and the logistics company have taken steps to prop up the struggling shipping company, which has resulted in considerable losses due to derivative transactions and borrowing.

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It is estimated that Hyundai Elevator lost 447 billion won due to the various derivative contracts it has engaged in since 2010.Overall, shipping industry insiders say shipping lines will likely face more hard times even if market conditions improve, as they are affected by debt and as they lose their competitiveness vis-a-vis rivals. Source: Global Post, 18 March 2014

Maritime Sector to See Continued Growth The maritime sector will see continued growth across Asia with its share of global seaborne trade expected to increase by over 40% in the years ahead, said Singapore's Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport, Josephine Teo. She said Asia has been seeing signs of recovery since the second half of 2013, with improved earnings particularly in the dry bulk and tanker segments. "This has been driven by the recovery of advanced economies like the US and Europe as well as continued growth in Asia and emerging markets," she said. Teo said this at the opening of the Asia Pacific Maritime 2014 (APM) on Wednesday. She said the IHS World Trade Service has predicted that Far East-Europe seaborne container trade would grow at 4.6% per annum from 2014 to 2016, while intra-Asia seaborne container trade was expected to grow at 5.8% per annum from 2014 to 2016. "As a result, Asia's share of global seaborne trade is expected to increase by over 40% in the years ahead," she said. Looking ahead, Teo said, Asia could expect continued growth. "It is therefore fitting that this year's APM has adopted the theme, 'Repositioning for Growth in the Asia-Pacific Region'.” Asia will be the key engine behind global trade growth, both today and in the medium term," she said. - Bernama Source: The Star Online, 19 March 2014

CNOOC in Deepwater South China Sea Breakthrough CNOOC announced that the company has recently made a new mid-sized gas discovery Lingshui17-2, which indicated the first breakthrough on the independent deep water exploration in Qiongdongnan Basin of the South China Sea. Lingshui17-2 is located in the east Lingshui Sag in a deep water area of Qiongdongnan Basin, with the average water depth of about 1,450 meters. The discovery well Lingshui17-2-1 is drilled and completed at a depth of 3,510 meters and encountered the gas reservoir with a total thickness of about 55 meters. The discovery has not only proven the exploration potential of structural and lithological trap in central Canyon channel of Lingshui Sag, but also further confirmed the good exploration prospects in deep water area of Qiongdongnan Basin. Source: Maritime Executive, 19 March 2014

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Shipping Industry Can Benefit From Hydrocarbons Exploitation

The Discovery of hydrocarbons in Cyprus’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) widens the potential for the country’s shipping industry, creating new synergies of cooperation, said Communications and Works Minister Marios Demetriades on Friday. Speaking at the 2nd Cyprus Shipping Forecast Forum, the minister said hydrocarbons creates new prospects for Cyprus and its economy: “These new developments widen the horizons of our shipping industry, creating relevant synergies. The discovery of hydrocarbons places new challenges on our shipping industry. “Offshore exploration and production of gas and oil, as well as their transportation ashore, require the operation of specialised ships and equipment and the supply of specialised supporting services,” he said. Demetriades added that many Cyprus-based shipping companies are keen to be involved in the industry. Some have already taken the step to broaden their services and activities. The government anticipates foreign shipping companies will relocate their offices and operations to Cyprus in order to explore the benefits of the emerging eastern Mediterranean offshore market, he said. The minister highlighted the government’s commitment to maintaining Cyprus’ leading role in the world shipping scene through continuous development and growth. “Shipping is a significant pillar of our economy in its capacity to act as a wide gateway of foreign investments to our island and this is of crucial importance on Cyprus’ path towards economic recovery,” he said. His ministry will continue to improve and update the incentives offered to shipping entrepreneurs, while exploring new incentives to ensure Cyprus’ competitiveness as a ship management and shipping centre, said Demetriades. Regarding piracy activity in the high risk areas of the Indian Ocean and West Africa, the minister said the Department of Merchant Shipping has prepared comprehensive new legislation to counteract unlawful acts against Cyprus-flagged ships. The new legislation establishes a legal framework allowing the use of private armed personnel on board Cyprus-flagged vessels, for when they sail through high risk areas. Forum Chairman and Chief Maritime Analyst at IHS Maritime UK, Richard Clayton, said despite sceptics who doubted the determination and resolve of the Cyprus Shipping Chamber, Cyprus continues to punch above its weight as a ship register and ship management cluster. “It does so because this community shows a commitment to the industry that has little to do with size and much to do with professionalism,” he said. Clayton said after meeting with the minister on Thursday, he was impressed by his vision for the shipping industry. Source: Cyprus Mail, 21 March 2014

EU Restricts Seafood Trade from Illegal Fishing Nations GLOBAL - Four leading environmental groups – Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Oceana, The Pew Charitable Trusts and WWF have welcomed a decision by the EU Fisheries Council to place trade restrictions on Belize, Cambodia, and Guinea for failing to cooperate in fighting Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.

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The decision means EU member states are now required to ban the import of fish from Belize, Cambodia, and Guinea and ensure that EU fishing vessels do not operate in the waters of these nations. In addition to welcoming the ban’s approval by the EU’s 28 fisheries ministers, and praising the Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki, for her leadership, the NGOs are calling for greater transparency in the way the EU evaluates third countries’ efforts to fight illegal fishing. They are also calling on the European Commission to close a loophole that allows non-EU vessels fishing in the banned countries’ waters to continue exporting their catches to the EU, and to work with EU member states to strengthen efforts to keep illegally-caught fish off the dinner plates of European consumers. The three countries were initially amongst eight countries identified by the European Commission in November 2012 for inadequate monitoring of their fishing fleets, neglecting to impose sanctions on illegal fishing operators, and failing to develop robust fisheries laws. In 2013 the Commission announced that Fiji, Panama, Sri Lanka, Togo, and Vanuatu had improved but that Belize, Cambodia and Guinea had not. Today’s Council decision confirms the Commission recommendation that the countries be formally blacklisted or “red-carded” and prevented from trading fish with the EU. IUU fishing depletes fish stocks, damages marine ecosystems, puts legitimate fishers at an unfair disadvantage and jeopardises the livelihoods of some of the world’s most vulnerable communities. IUU fishing is estimated to cost between seven and 17 billion euro annually, representing 11 to 26 million tonnes of catch. The EU IUU Regulation aims to deprive market access for illegal fish, by requiring “catch certificates” for imports into the EU, as well as banning the entry of fish from countries and vessels involved in illegal fishing. A second round of “yellow cards” was issued by the European Commission in November 2013, with Curaçao, Ghana, and South Korea warned that they could also face the same set of trade measures if they do not cooperate in fighting IUU fishing. South Korean vessels have been widely documented fishing illegally in West Africa, causing significant impacts on coastal fishing communities and the marine environment. The organisations are calling on the EU to continue to show the same determination and resoluteness towards other countries that repeatedly fail to observe the rules. Steve Trent, Executive Director of Environmental Justice Foundation said: “Closing the world’s most valuable seafood market to countries that do not cooperate in fighting illegal fishing is a crucial step, and we applaud the EU for taking this decision. Whilst it is not perfect, the EU IUU Regulation is clearly the world’s leading piece of legislation in this field – there are already signs that coastal communities in West Africa are seeing the benefits of the EU’s action towards offending vessels and flag States.” Maria José Cornax, Fisheries Campaign Manager at Oceana commented: “The EU's efforts to tackle IUU fishing worldwide have truly materialised today with this unprecedented step. We hope that fishing nations around the world are looking today at the EU's leadership, and are ready to follow this newly opened path towards the definitive elimination of IUU fishing."

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Tony Long, Director, Ending Illegal Fishing Project at The Pew Charitable Trusts added: “The Council, by adopting this red list on non-compliant countries, has achieved a milestone in fighting illegal fishing. This shows that the European Union is serious about confronting countries that do not stop illegal fishing or continue to trade in illegally caught fish.” Eszter Hidas, EU Policy Lead for WWF's Transparent Seas Project said: "WWF supports the EU's efforts to impose sanctions where necessary to ensure that marine ecosystems and livelihoods are not damaged by illegal and irresponsible fishing practices. There must be consequences for persistent inaction after repeated warnings. We expect that Belize, Cambodia and Guinea will now take immediate action to impose effective fishing regulations.” Source: The Fish Site, 24 March 2014

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EMSA Ups Oil Spill Equipment in Bulgaria

China to Increase Environmental Monitoring in Diaoyu Islands

Amended Regulations to Reduce Marine Pollution

PFF Slams Issuing Licenses to Deep-sea Trawlers

A Much Needed Precedent: UAE Toughens up on Environmental Crimes

Maritime Environment in Gulf ‘Very Steady’

Pakistan Naval Vice Chief Calls For Regularization of Maritime Sector

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EMSA Ups Oil Spill Equipment in Bulgaria

The capacity of The European Maritime Safety’s (EMSA) contracted vessel in Varna, Bulgaria, is now better equipped to handle potential oil spills. In February the supply vessel Enterprise was fitted with a new Weir Boom 180 system, bringing significant advantages through its combined containment and recovery system. The system is designed for response operations after large oil spills and well blow-outs. It is equipped with a fully autonomous source of hydraulic power and packed for quick mobilization and easy deployment. Supplied by Vikoma International Limited, UK, the system is capable of collecting up to 180 cubic metres per hour of pollutant.

EMSA stand-by oil spill response vessels are commercial vessels which can be rapidly converted to oil pollution response activities. The contracted vessels have large recovered oil storage capacities and an oil containment and recovery system. The Weir Boom 180 consists of a 300m deflector oil pollution containment boom and an integrated weir boom section of 70.5m which contains three weir pumps, spaced at 6m intervals, each capable of collecting 60 cubic metres per hour of oil. The boom is supplied on a hydraulically driven deck reel and includes a deck-mounted oil recovery pump, hydraulic air fan, water pump and 2 x 105kW ATEX zoned power packs all housed within a 20ft container.

Source: Maritime Executive, 16 March 2014

China to Increase Environmental Monitoring in Diaoyu Islands

China will enhance environmental monitoring of the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea and Sansha in the South China Sea, the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said Friday. Coastal monitoring stations nationwide will intensify the surveillance of marine ecological environment, the SOA said in a statement. China officially set up the city of Sansha to administer three island groups -- Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha -- and their surrounding waters in 2012. The SOA vowed to make more efforts to improve its warning system of marine pollution or other disasters, including oil spills, red tides or radioactive contamination at sea.

Source: Shanghai Daily, 21 March 2014

Amended Regulations to Reduce Marine Pollution

An amendment to regulations that control discharge from ships and offshore installations will protect New Zealand’s unique marine environment, Environment Minister Amy Adams announced. “The regulations will be amended to prohibit all forms of garbage (with the exception of food waste) from being discharged from ships into the coastal marine area,” Ms Adams says.

Garbage from ships could pose a significant risk to marine life and safety. This amendment will help to protect recreational and ecological values in coastal areas. “While international shipping operators are already complying with the new requirements, it is important for this change to be made formally through amending the regulations.” The changes will be made via amendments to the Resource Management (Marine Pollution) Regulations 1998. The changes to the Regulations will also prohibit the discharge of incinerator ash, cargo residues and cleaning substances that are harmful to the marine environment. The Regulations will make exceptions in certain circumstances for the accidental loss of garbage and fishing gear.

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New Zealand is a party to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships 1973 (MARPOL), which controls discharge of harmful substances from ships. The changes to these Regulations reflect changes made to Annex V of MARPOL, which controls the discharge of garbage from ships

Source: scoop.com.nz, 21 March 2014

PFF Slams Issuing Licences to Deep-Sea Trawlers

Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) criticised the government’s Marine Fisheries Department, which has invited deep sea trawler companies of the country to issue licenses of fishing. PFF chairperson Mohammed Ali Shah in a statement condemned the governments’ approach to exploit the marine resources, which are already declining fast due to over fishing by big trawling vessels using harmful nets and increasing marine pollution.

The PFF leaders plead that more than 70 percent fish catch has declined; forcing fish workers to stay idle at home and several families have lost their traditional source of income. For example, they said, earlier a boat used to bring 2000-3000 kg, now brings hardly 100-200 kg, which is insufficient to provide proper share to the poor crews. At some occasions the fishing boats return empty and the crewmembers cannot feed their kids.

According to advertisement appeared quite recently, these deep sea trawlers will be allowed to operate within Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Pakistan. The government has offered 100 licenses to the trawlers in different category, depending on their capacity of catch. It is not only the issue of marketing and generating money, the government should keep in mind impacts of fishing on ecosystem, which is already fragile due to increasing pressure on the sea, the statement said, adding that since these trawlers have larger fishing nets, they pull through machines destroy the marine species, which come under nets.

It is worldwide understanding that the bottom trawl gear destroys important habitat that sustain the ecosystem. The destructive gear used to catch an estimated 80 percent of deep-sea species on the high seas leaves coral gardens and sponge beds devastated. These habitats provide many important ecosystem services to other species, including those targeted by deep-sea fishing operations.

The statement also suggested that most deep-sea fish cannot survive the changes in pressure as they are brought up from the depths, so fish are discarded dead. And deep-sea fish are adapted to conditions of low turbulence and their skin is not covered by mucus, so there is also high mortality among fish that escape through trawl meshes.

The trawlers usually have entire processing system within they sort out commercial fish and throw back the less commercial dead fish in to the sea, cause marine pollution. The studies of impacts of operating trawlers have realized the world coastal nations to avoid issuing licenses to the trawlers to make the natural resources sustainable so future generations may earn their living. PFF has already launched the campaign against such moves and presently expressed concern over the move of the government to issue licenses to the country trawler companies.

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PFF has advised the government to realize the fact and conduct study to see the current status of fish stocks within the sea. Because, the community perspective shows that there is no more fish and the people depending on fish catch are facing hardships and economical pressure due to joblessness.

PFF also appealed to the coastal people and those keeping watch on marine ecology to come forward against the recent move and stop issuing licenses to the deep sea trawlers to save resources. The statement said the situation could be gauged from the fact that fishermen and boat owners from Sindh and Balochistan were accusing each other of affecting their resources. Now the trawlers will destroy the resources of both the provinces, affecting the poor workforce to stay idle at homes without jobs.

Source: Daily Times, 24 March 2014

A Much Needed Precedent: UAE Toughens Up on Environmental Crimes

A draft law presented to the Federal National Council on Tuesday for review and approval would crack down on environmental crimes. The bill, which introduces changes in the UAE Environmental Protection Law of 1999, would penalise offenders found guilty of polluting drinking and underground water with up to one year in prison and a fine of up to Dh2 million.

The draft law, in which the government suggests covering businesses in free zones across the country, includes tougher penalties for offenders convicted of failure to abide by air quality regulations. These offenders would face a prison term of at least one year, a minimum fine of Dh1 million or both, according to the draft law. The move follows findings of recent studies by UAE University, which blamed air pollution for breathing problems and certain types of cancers. Strict air quality regulations were introduced in 2008 to stop quarries from generating pollutants, including dust and toxins, and set limits on the amount of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide as well as suspended particles and breathable dust permissible at quarries.

But residents in Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah, where nearly 90 per cent of the crushing plants are located, complained of lack of enforcement and said that the crackdown on these quarries had made little or no difference. The House has repeatedly raised concern over health problems caused by the quarries. A report on the environment presented recently by the FNC’s committee on petrol, mineral resources and fishing, cited research findings conducted by the UAE University in Al Ain, blaming air pollution for breathing problems, certain types of cancers and psychological disorders. The link between these ailments and poor air quality in remote areas was dismissed by the Ministry of Environment and Water.

The report blamed the dust and toxins generated by the quarries’ use of crushing machines and explosives for asthma suffered by nearly 40 per cent of children and 15 per cent of the UAE’s population. The bill would hold authorities responsible for regular monitoring of environmental impact of oil and gas exploration and extraction and for suggesting solutions for any threats to the environment. It also provides for stringent measures to prevent marine pollution from oil and other harmful substances as well as effective prosecution of marine polluters.

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The draft law would establish a liability and compensation regime related to vessel-sourced pollution, remedying harm to living resources and marine life, hazards to human health, hindrance to marine activities, including fishing and other legitimate uses of the sea, impairment of quality for use of seawater and reduction of amenities. Owners of ships would be held liable for oil spills or any hazardous substances and to recover wreckage of a sunken ship within 14 days, which can be extended by the Ministry of Environment and Water. In the event of ship owners’ failure to do so, the authorities would fulfil the mission at the owner’s cost, imposing 25 per cent of the charges as a fine.

Source: Albawaaba Business, 26 March 2014

Maritime Environment in Gulf ‘very steady’

The maritime environment in the Gulf region is “very steady” at the moment, Vice Admiral John Miller, Commander, US Naval Forces Central Command (NavCent)/US Fifth Fleet based in Manama said yesterday. In his comments to the media at the Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference (Dimdex 2014), Miller said that Iran should make sure that they didn’t do anything in the maritime security environment to offer an opportunity to miscalculate their intentions. “We too never offer them an opportunity to miscalculate our intentions…. I would describe the maritime environment (in the region) as very steady right now.”

He said that everyone was well aware of Iran’s capability, especially its submarine fleet, most of which the Iranians have developed and built themselves. When asked whether he thought Iran still posed a threat despite the recent peace overtures made to it by the US given that it has in the past threatened to shut down the vital supply route of Strait of Hormuz, the Vice Admiral said: “Strait of Hormuz is an international Hormuz and all nations have a right to it.”

About the presence of Western naval powers in the Gulf region, he said that what we were seeing was that coalition forces were coming more and more together. “What we have in Bahrain is a Combined Maritime Force comprising 30 different countries and growing. We have over the last two years gone on from 26 countries to 30 and I think we will continue to grow. This is bringing us all together to operate as one force to ensure maritime security in the region. So, where we have common interest, we can certainly operate together.”

He said there was always an opportunity to improve communications between coalition partners. “We hold on average 25 different naval exercises each year in the Gulf. So every other week, NavCent is involved in some sort of an exercise, often of which is multilateral.” When asked whether he was satisfied with the number of naval assets he had in the region given reports that his fleet may have one instead of two aircraft carriers, Miller said: “The number of assets we have, ebbs and flows. I’m satisfied that we have enough assets to accomplish our missions today and what is projected in the future.”

Source: Gulf Times, 27 March 2014

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Pakistan Naval Vice Chief Calls for Regularization of Maritime Sector

Vice Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah emphasized that the maritime sector of Pakistan is crucial for sustenance and development. Addressing as chief guest the second National Maritime seminar here on Thursday, he stressed the need for regularization and effective implementation of maritime sector in the country. He highlighted that Pakistani seafarers qualify the international standards for the training and education set by IMO. In this regard, the government of Pakistan should adapt dynamic policies to open up job opportunities for our seafarers as this sector can earn revenue up to $ 500 million per annum. The seminar was organized by National Centre for Maritime Policy Research (NCMPR), a unit of Bahria University, to discuss the Policy and Regulatory Framework Governing the Maritime Sector of Pakistan.

It was attended by officials from Government, Pakistan Navy, academia and maritime industry. Chairman, Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) Siddique Memon in his speech, lauded the organizers of the event for providing a unique opportunity to all stakeholders, to sit together and work out the way forward for an integrated approach towards a sustainable and developed maritime sector. Dr. Shahid Amjad, HoD, Environmental & Energy Management of Institute of Business Management (IoBM) apprised the audience on national laws for marine pollution and protection of coastal areas. He stated that degradation and encroachment of coastal zones will result in loss of important resources and make us more vulnerable to natural disasters. Fayyaz Rasool, Manager Marine Pollution Control Department from Karachi Port Trust discussed the implementation of global environmental standards for port operations in Pakistan.

Source: Associate Press of Pakistan, 27 March 2014